Thermal Imaging to wake homeowners up to heat loss?

My uncle recently put a proposal with others to his District Council to purchase a thermal imaging camera to demonstrate to householders where their house is losing heat and where improvements could be made. The process would then be repeated later to check on the
effectiveness of any improvements. Local schools were to be involved with lots to be made of the “wow factor” of the colourful photos plus energy advice surgeries.

Photo: Note damp (white) areas under the windows of this recently insulated home - the above set of photos came from Horton Levi and the below set from IRYSIS. I hope they don't mind!

Apparently one of the keys to making the project work is getting the training to be able to interpret the images. A few areas in the country apparently have done aerial thermal imaging - Leicester city council have used it to target street by street with a hit squad to do loft insulation and cavity wall to all the houses....yes I know I mention this every time we get on this topic but why can't Stroud do a project like Kirklees who have the funds (mainly from energy utility companies) to insulate every home in their District....see previous blogs...

“Seeing is believing”

To me this is a fresh and interesting project - I am sure the impact of seeing heat loss in full colour is very useful in encouraging people to take action. It should also be possible to maximise involvement of householders by giving them a list of possible energy saving improvements to their property with an idea of the relative costs & savings of different approaches e.g. loft v. cavity wall insulation, double glazing etc. and even curtains over doors & windows - together with hints on the use of other energy saving measures like condensing boilers to reduce their carbon footprint.

In the proposal follow-up after the initial round of contacts and thermal image making is planned to take several forms, for example:-

- Awards for houses achieving the ‘best improvement’ in household energy use.
- Interesting articles in the Press, with coloured Before and After pictures.
- “Energy Advice Surgery” meeting in the Village Hall under an experienced individual.
- Articles in Parish magazine covering energy saving matters.
- Leaflets or posters, funded where possible by local firms’ advertising.

Thermal Imaging

Thermal images can reveal problems over a huge range of industrial, mechanical and electrical systems. Used on buildings, images taken with thermographic cameras show up hidden design faults or flaws of workmanship or bad insulation that cause heat leakages, with brighter colours showing where loss is greatest. See example photos on this blog entry.

It is now possible to get portable thermal image cameras for around £5,000 instead of tens of thousands. The group have already had camera demonstrations to establish which of the most promising cameras will best suit requirements. Good outside thermal images need to be taken in the winter and without sun on the houses.

Is this something that we could do in this area? Already underway is the Neighbourhood Energy project which is similar in that it looks at householders energy use - some Parishes are pursuing this and I've covered it previously on this blog.