Cool Use of Infrared Thermography to Find Ways to Save Energy

You may have heard of infrared thermography - or perhaps we've seen it used in movies by military personnel or law enforcement seeking out the enemy.  Aside from its use in Hollywood, infrared thermography is a real, effective tool to detect heat gain or loss in a building, and SCE is putting it to use at its ZNE Home Retrofit project in San Bernardino, California.

As construction at this project site kicks off this month, infrared thermography is being used to identify wasted energy and other factors that are critical to conserving energy usage in a building.  Not surprisingly, in hot conditions, the greatest source of heat energy is the sun.  Heat can enter a building directly through windows or by heat transfer through a building's insulation.

If you wanted to cool down in hot weather, you could reduce heat by improving shading, using light colored roofing and heat-reflective paints and coatings, installing better windows and using various types of insulation. And if a homeowner were able to find these energy "weak spots" in their home and fix them, they could save money on their utility bills.

Here are a few infrared thermography images of the ZNE Home Retrofit Project, showing the home's weak spots and potential energy improvements that may occur in the weeks to come, such as installing energy efficient windows, improving insulation in the attic and walls and upgrading roofing materials.



This is an image of a bedroom, single-pane window with the curtain drawn.  The infrared shows noticeable heat energy, which means the air conditioning has to work harder on a hot day. Double pane windows with a low energy coating will minimize heat and reduce the need for air conditioning.

This image shows the lack of sufficient insulation in the external wall of the living room, so the outside temperature more easily affects the inside temperature.  Cellulose insulation will be used in the wall cavities in order to better separate the inside and outside of the home.

New construction homes use reflective insulation and foil in the roof and attic space.  These photos show the existing attic floor and the red-orange color shows the area where heat transfer is taking place through the roof due to the lack of a more protective insulating barrier.

Thermal images of the electric water cooler and refrigerator reveal sources of internal heat gain.