Shortly after launching the Open Solar blog, I got a message from @kenoatman informing me that the ads we were serving included links to the "earth4energy scam". I checked the site out and agreed that we did not want to be associated with it. I updated our ad code to block any ads that linked to earth4energy and was quite pleased with myself. Score one for the white knights of the Internet.Well - not so much. You see, this earth4energy scam (aka homemadepowerplant aka homemadeenergy aka DIY Green Energy aka Efficient Planet) runs deep on the Interwebs. Like so many zebra mussels, it appears to have infested the solar web - to the point where it's virtually impossible to have a solar site with ads that aren't involved in the scam. Their lucrative affiliate program offers web marketeers about $34 a head for anyone they can lure into taking the bait. That's a 75% referral fee on a downloadable product that costs nothing to reproduce. Enter the piranhas...
Google "earth4energy" and you'll get about 260K results. Try "earth4energy scam" and you get almost 26K results. The particularly insidious part is that it's actually the affiliates who are targeting the "earth4energy scam" keyword phrase. Try it yourself. Many of the sponsored links are intentionally manipulative with tag lines like "Don't Be Fooled By Earth 4 Energy Check This Before You Waste Money". When I tried, all 11 sponsored links pointed to affiliate sites claiming that earth4energy actually works great - just click here to buy now! It's almost as if they're targeting the keyword "earth4energy scam" to obscure any real feedback from actual users.
Peter Parsons does an excellent job explaining the scam in detail. A little digging reveals that Earth4Energy comes to us from Brisbane, Australia and is part of a growing series of "green lifestyle products" offered by Drew aka Swerd from http://www.ezcbcash.com/ (that's EZ Clickbank cash). Check out his latest offerings or read the Earth4Energy affiliate handbook for tips on why you should hide your affiliate codes when you promote e4e! As it happens, Earth4Energy is a top grossing clickbank product, sandwiched somewhere between shady get rich quick scams and tips on how to lose weight without diet or exercise.
What's got me pissed off about this whole thing is the breadth of this scam. I feel like I'm playing Whac-A-Mole with each new affiliate that comes up trying to push this crap on my website. I personally take offense at their misleading claims and think it's shameful that they are willfully taking money from people for something that can be easily downloaded for free and does not deliver on its promise.
It is our duty, as concerned netizens to call BS when we see it and I call BS on earth4energy. Like so much greenwashing, their cynical approach (note their tag line - "We can make a difference...") only serves to obscure the reality and mislead the public (eg. "Why pay $1000's for solar or wind power when you can build your own professional system for less than $200?").
I'm not suggesting that you do this, but I imagine that if web users went to their favorite search engine, entered "earth4energy" and started clicking on all the affiliate ads en masse - the stream of ez clickbank cash would come to a crawl. Maybe then I'd start seeing ads for real solar products on my blog again.
Have you been the victim of a "green" Internet scam? Please leave a comment and share your story.
I entirely agree with you about the earth4energy situation. You are a bit hard on Clickbank products: I sell some carefully selected ones and have for several years. There are good things among the rest. But the earth4energy stuff is an example of misinformation that is ubiquitous.
My husband and I have lived with solar panels and know the true costs.
Here's my review:
http://simplegreenliving.com/solar-energy/earth-4-energy-a-review-of-its-webpage/
I don't much use Adsense because of the lack of control -- for example I don't use it on my website about dog training because I disagree so strongly with many of the abusive methods that are advertised.
But I did have it on the bottom of my pages at this website where I reviewed earth4energy, and sure enough -- ironically -- there was an ad for it. Soon as I finish typing here, I am going to take those ads off my page. Later I'll replace them with something I know I can recommend.
But I'll pass on your ad-clicking idea.
Thanks for your comment Rosana. I checked out your review and must commend you for your diplomatic approach.
Glad to hear that you both have had positive experiences with Clickbank. I was really just referring to the currently most popular CB products - most of which are seem fairly dubious to me...
Dear Opensolar,
I am a reader and fan of your blog. I am also the creator of Solar Feeds, which is a Solar news network. I would like to feature your solar related articles on solarfeeds.com, making you a contributor. Each contributor is furnished with a bio page with their logo, bio/about, and links to homepage (and any other links if you want). Solar Feeds is quickly becoming one of the go to destinations for solar news, and I would really like you to be a part of it. Take a look around the site and let me know your thoughts. Thanks, and keep up the good work over there. On a differnt subject, I am also the creator of the greenbar toolbar and would happy to list your site on there.
Scott Weitzman
www.solarfeeds.com
Thank you for your leadership on exposing earth4energy's misinformation.
I personally looked for an avenue to complain to Google Adsense about this, but couldn't find a "Complaint Desk" anywhere.
The editor of Solar Today mentioned possibly investigating it as well.
I'll keep trying other avenues myself, keep up the good work.
Gee, I am amazed on how people call it a scam.
I have not read it myself but as you say, it is information that can be found online for free.
What if there are people who do not know how to find it other than to buy it?
Would a company like Clickbank really allow a scam? I know they assess every product that gets sold before it is released...
If the guide describes a good 'how to' and is accompanied by videos on how to do it and is not misleading, then I'd say it is worth the money.
Why is it such a scam?
People sell information for years. And, a lot of people benefit from it and are happy to pay for something they do not need to go out and look for.
See what I mean?
I know someone personally who was able to build his own solar systems. He was quite happy with the info inside it and with him self after building it...
I have not had a look at the guide but I am sure you have your reasons to be calling it a scam.
It is great to see the honesty about your approach.
Yet, I think it is up to the people to find out. They ARE 100% backed by clickbank for a refund should they want to.
So, once they can get their money back, where is the scam?
Hey Walt,
Thanks for your take on this. I can appreciate that as an affiliate selling a similar product, you approach this issue from a different perspective. Let me elaborate on my own.
I am deeply concerned about the threat of climate change and future resource wars. Each passing day brings yet another story of how dire things really are and how fast they are getting worse. The consequences of our inaction to address global climate change are obvious and disastrous. As a global community, we have come to expect, to demand a certain lifestyle. Our lives are completely based upon burning fossil fuels to provide the energy we need. Yet with each tonne of carbon that gets emitted, we're bringing ourselves one step closer to catastrophe. It is a brutal problem which affects our future economy, national security, personal health and even our freedom and basic human rights.
Clean power like solar and wind have the potential to change all this. People are drawn to this idea because it is so incredibly powerful, obvious and inspiring. We must have solar power - now! But in the process we need to change how we live our own lives and how our economy works. This requires developing a robust and effective renewable energy industry that can scale to meet the actual power demands of our future world. That means real investment in solar and wind technologies - hundreds of billions of dollars.
Clean power doesn't cost $200. It is expensive. It's supposed to be. We've become collectively lazy and wasteful, especially in the United States. We need to be more aware of the impact of our blind consumption. When you become aware and do something about it - you'll feel better and help move things forward.
Earth4Energy and its ilk are selling a lie and it's a rather obvious one. Everyone under the sun is trying to pretend they are green these days. It's so hot right now... but all the stimulus money, government incentives and potential carbon and renewable energy credit trading systems just mean more opportunities for the unscrupulous to get involved and create problems.
Therefore - it's actually really important that we are a little critical and make others aware when we see people being disingenuous in this space. I'm sorry but monopolizing all the domains/keywords around the terms "earth4energy" and "scam" and then unanimously presenting Earth4Energy as a godsend while neglecting to mention you'll be earning 75% on this sale is being disingenuous. We can't afford to have people getting caught up in this web. This mission is more important than easy clickbank cash.
Rosana, William:
Which eBook product would you recommend instead of Earth4Energy? I'm in California and thinking about SolarCity if not DIY kit... Does not have to be a Clickbank product but instant download is best and they have 60 days full refund - I've bought a lot of Clickbank products and returned all the cr*ppy ones - it takes about two weeks before the refunds are fully processed.
Thanks!
Nick
Finally! I've been looking for any kind of confirmation of my suspicion that these DIY plans were just a scam. It's near impossible, as you said, to find legitimate information through all of the noise that these guys generate. At least, I've found a blog where I can hopefully find some truly useful information! I'd love to think about going solar. Thanks!!
Thanks for your comment David. It is sad to see how insidious the affiliates have become. In particular twitter is now flooded with affiliates posing as people that actually care and the saddest part is they often have many followers who believe they are legitimate, which then lends them an aura of respectability...
@Nick P - I'd recommend checking out the Real Goods free ebook - http://www.realgoodssolar.com/solar/ecs/main/freeSLSchapter.html ... the 600 page paper version is only $35, which is the amount of money an affiliate would make on your download of the earth4energy PDF. Note I'm not making any money on this recommendation. I just like Real Goods Solar.
Thank you for doing some great detective work here William. I hate seeing companies rip off people who are too naive to understand. For some reason the scribd.com document only shows the images does anyone have another link to where I can check out the document and see what they are feeding these people?
I reviewed Earth4Energy and decided not to include it. It is just too short and too disorganized. I do like the WindPlans book on wind energy (which is not practical in most of the U.S.). Jim Martin's "Earth for Electricity" book is 274 pages and much better organized and written, but he left Clickbank and the company he sells through is unfamiliar and seems a little klunky.
Andy Green
Green Living for Rednecks
New post on scammy Clickbank affliate Earth4Energy, because the more we focus on this using counter-Google Juice, the sooner we can but it behind us.
Find it at:
Disruptive Solar
http://kenoatman.com
Thank you William. Hope your project is moving along nicely.
This is definitely an interesting read. I'm an affiliate marketer and promote ClickBank products. And yes...some of the products on there are junk, but there are some very good, quality products on there as well.
I came across Earth4Energy and was very interested for a couple reasons. 1) Solar and clean energy is hot right now. 2) My dad build his own air-to-air solar panel a few years ago to heat his home during the winter...it worked very well...and this is in Minnesota. I thought he might be interested in it.
Before I promote any products, I buy them myself to see if they are a quality product. I thought that it was a good product with good information...and you can seriously find many of the components for cheap following the instructions. I showed it to my dad and he has decided to go ahead and see what he can do. He's not expecting a full blown solar panel system, but if he can do it for cheap it might be fun.
I was going to set up a blog to document the experience and, yes, maybe make some money selling it. I'm thinking twice about it now that I've read this blog. I'll admit that I don't know much about PV solar panels so Earth4Energy seemed pretty legit to me.
Don't be so quick to call people promoting the product scammers...many of them aren't. They may truly believe that they are promoting a good product...I was one of them.
What's funny is how you rip on affiliates for "willfully taking money away from people" and go on to suggest that everybody goes and clicks on ads to cost affiliates money. Very nice...
Many of those affiliates are people trying to make a few extra dollars and mean no harm. I know that some have questionable ethics, but many do not. We cannot get that money back when people click our ads...people who buy Earth4Energy and don't find it useful can EASILY get their money back.
Why do you call it a scam? This is a serious question. Because people promote it? Have you bought the guide? I really would like to know why you call it a scam. If people can get their money back what's the problem? Do the systems not work? I want to know as it may be a decent product. If there are better what are they? Some folks don't have time to spend days searching the web. Is this a viable alternative?
Please respond to my email if not here.
Thanks,
Leiif
"OpenSolar is an open directory of solar providers, installations and people " that's why they call it a scam. They are solar providers and diy is not an option for them.
Earth4energy is selling a diy guide, nothing more.
Homemade solar panels are not hard to build and relatively cheap 50% or even cheaper but the quality it's not even close to a commercial one.
to Walt
i personally bought the earth 4 energy guide for $39.00.
after looking over the plans i decided that building the wind turbine or the solar panel was a waste of time and money.IT DOESNT WORK!!!RIPOFF,SCAM IS ALL IT IS.Get your money back?how many people know how to do that or are willing to go thru the BS to get it back,not many,thats what your scam artist buddy is counting on,WHY DO YOU THINK THIS CROOK IS EVERYWHERE,LIMITED TIME OFFER OFFER GOING ON FOR OVER A YEAR THAT I KNOW OF,regular $250.00 bucks,TODAY ONLY $39.00
A good quality product worth $250.00 always on sale,limited time offer mind you for $39.00 and $49.00.never say a bigger smarter scam artist.
PS
WILLIAM WHITE,You are the man,keep on this scam artist's back,if you don't,who will.
You are doing the public a great service.i get emails about earth 4 energy and their various other names everyday,same story,I GOT RIPPED OFF!!!
His partners in crime are commenting on your web page defending this crook,why not,they profit from it.Don't let them get you down with their smart ass comments,i get the same crap from his cronies.
call a crook a crook.
Good job.
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Just to let you know... when you search google to find out what sites they (google) consider relevant to earth4energyscam (ie sites that google views as increasing earth4energyscam's relevance on the internet thus giving it a higher search ranking), this website comes up as one of the top ten sites... meaning you are greatly contributing to earth4energy's high search ranking on google.com.
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