Privacy and Legal Policies

The following provides important information for Clean Energy Business Network (CEBN) Members on the use of CEBN’s website and electronic resources. It includes our Privacy Policies along with our Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability

Privacy Policy

The security and privacy of your information is very important to us. The following policies outline the ways the Clean Energy Business Network (including our parent, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, BCSE) collects, stores, and utilizes personally identifiable information about you. It applies to data obtained through our website and any additional vendors or contractors managed by the CEBN. We may periodically update this privacy policy as we add new services or vendors, so we recommend that you periodically revisit this document to ensure that you understand and agree to our terms.

Consent to Receive Communications

By signing up for the CEBN or participating in any of our events or online tools (such as webinars, in-person events, advocacy alerts, or e-newsletters), you agree to receive relevant communications from us. Additionally, if you have opted into receiving SMS messages, you may receive periodic text messages from us. The types of communications you may receive from us include an e-newsletter, invitations to webinars and events, notices about policy updates relevant to your industry, policy advocacy alerts, or information about business opportunities that may be of interest to you. It is your responsibility to notify us of any updates to your contact information. If we have reason to believe that your email is no longer valid or that you have moved to another company, we may contact you on an individual basis to ask if you would like to update your email address and remain in the CEBN, but will not subscribe your new email address
without your consent.

Opting Out of the CEBN

At any time, you may ask to be removed from the CEBN and opt out of further communications by following the unsubscribe link provided at the bottom of our newsletters and other bulk email communications to you. Doing so does not automatically remove all electronic data stored relating to your prior involvement in the CEBN. You are expected to demonstrate professional, appropriate, and constructive behavior in your use of all CEBN resources. We may delete your comments on our platforms or remove you from the CEBN if you fail to comply with this requirement.

Data We Collect About You

In order to sign up as a member of the CEBN or participate in any of our events or online tools, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information and other details about yourself, including your email address, name, physical address, phone number, social media information, employer details, and interests in particular technologies, policies, or business opportunities. This information enables us to provide CEBN services and information to you and identify your Congressional or other legislative districts for advocacy messages. It is up to you to decide whether or not to provide any of the requested information, but failure to do so may limit your ability to participate in the CEBN or access some of our offerings. At any time, if you object to providing information required on one of our online forms, please feel free to contact us to discuss whether there is another feasible mechanism for you to access the CEBN information or services of interest.

When you use our website, emails, and online tools, information collected about you may include your IP address, the date and duration of your visit, your browser, operating system, and browsing activity on the site. This information is only used to evaluate and improve the functionality of CEBN’s website, emails, and online tools.

Disclosure of Your Information to Third Parties

We will not sell, lease, or give away your personally identifiable information to third parties except for vendors or contractors directly involved in the operations of the CEBN, or as explicitly authorized by you (e.g., if you wish to be listed in a member directory or be connected to another member). We may occasionally share publicly-available information about your company/organization (such as links to information on your website, media coverage of you or your company, or other information easily accessible on the public domain) in our e-newsletter or other communications to CEBN members, policymakers, and other partners. This is offered as a member service to help promote greater visibility of your work; please notify us in advance if you prefer that we not share such information. We may also publicly disclose aggregated information about our members, such as statistics about geographic distribution, technologies, and policy priorities.

Security Practices

We use appropriate technical, organizational, and administrative procedures to safeguard your information. You may download our PCI DSS Certificate for evidence of our compliance with industry standards for credit card payments. Please be advised that no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage of data is failsafe. Unauthorized entry or use, hardware or software failure, and other factors may compromise the security of user information at any time. You are advised to prevent unauthorized access to your account and personal information by selecting passwords appropriately and limiting access to your computer or device and browser by signing off after you have finished accessing your account. Our email and social media communications routinely contain links to external websites outside the CEBN’s control or ownership, such as news websites. We cannot control the security of information collected by these external websites and advise users to read the privacy policies of each website they visit.

Cookies Policy

By accessing our website or software provided by our third-party vendors, you consent to accept cookies, (including other identifiers). These include pieces of text that are stored on your computer or device. The CEBN uses cookies and Google Analytics to improve your navigation on a platforms, minimize the need for you to reenter information previously entered on our forms, personalize your messages, and collect statistical information to improve site navigation and provide content of greatest interest to users.

Refund Policy

Paid memberships in the CEBN are valid for one year from the payment date. If you prepay for renewal before expiration of your current membership, the payment will extend your membership for one year from the renewal deadline. Your receipt shows the effective dates of your membership. Full refunds are issued upon written request within 30 days of your most recent payment. No refunds will be issued after 30 days. CEBN is a division of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy. All payments to CEBN will be processed through BCSE.

California Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

Because we value your privacy we have taken the necessary precautions to be in compliance with the California Online Privacy Protection Act (calOPPA). We therefore will not distribute your personal information to outside parties without your consent.

As part of the California Online Privacy Protection Act, all users of our site with online profiles may make any changes to their information at any time by logging into their profile.

We may track the behavior of those that receive an email through our mailing list in the following ways: delivery success, delivery failure, open rate, and click rate.

Privacy: Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Compliance

In creating an account on our website, you attest that you are at least 13 years of age. We do not collect any information from anyone under 13 years of age, in compliance with the requirements of Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Our website, products and services are all directed to people who are at least 13 years old or older.

The EU General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), your data is only stored with your consent and you have the right to ask us to delete it or you may edit it at any time.

Disclaimer of Warranty and Limitation of Liability

YOUR USE OF THIS SITE IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK AND ALL INFORMATION, SOFTWARE, PROGRAMS, AND SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS,” WITH NO WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES WHATSOEVER. BCSE AND CEBN DISCLAIM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, ALL WARRANTIES AND GUARANTEES OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS AND NON-INFRINGEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL OR OTHER PROPERTY RIGHTS. BCSE AND CEBN PROVIDE NO WARRANTY OR GUARANTEE THAT THIS WEB SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, OR FREE FROM ERRORS. IF YOU DOWNLOAD OR OTHERWISE OBTAIN ANYTHING FROM THIS WEB SITE, YOU WILL BE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES THAT MAY RESULT. IF ANY JURISDICTION DOES NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF WARRANTIES, THIS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

IN NO EVENT WILL BCSE or CEBN BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY TYPE RELATED TO USE OF THIS WEB SITE, INCLUDING ANY OTHER SITE ON IT. THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY INCLUDES LOST PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, SOFTWARE PROGRAMS OR DATA, EVEN IF WE WERE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS WAIVER OF LIABILITY APPLIES TO ANY CAUSE OF ACTION, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORIES.

Policy on Political Activity

The Clean Energy Business Network actively promotes networking for our members with business, nonprofits, policymakers, and others. This includes various kinds of programs. For example, CEBN may facilitate meetings or site visits for government officials or candidates to our members’ clean energy facilities to educate these officials about the work and local impacts of clean energy businesses in their states and districts. The CEBN may also provide platforms for government officials or candidates to speak to clean energy businesses about clean energy policies and proposals as an educational benefit to our members.

However, CEBN does not participate in election campaigns, make gifts to, or endorse any candidates for office. Any site visits, meetings, or other activities with sitting elected officials or candidates for office are intended to be purely educational and should not be viewed as an endorsement. The CEBN may decline to participate in events that could reasonably give the appearance of violating this policy.