Thursday, 31 March 2011

The Best Way To Conduct Assessment On How To Do A Home Energy Inspection Using A Thermal Imaging Camera

By Pagan Moore


With the growing concerns about global warming, more and more people are becoming aware of their responsibilities in addressing the issue. Organisations and individuals are now measuring their carbon foot prints and trying to reduce them to a lower value. One of the very basic step, for an individual, is to know how to do a home energy inspection using a thermal imaging camera.

During an energy inspection of a household, the heat flows from various components of the house are measured. Then an extensive analysis is carried out to figure out how to reduce the total energy consumption and ways to optimise the same. This research is generally carried out by experts who take help of sophisticated machinery to take the heat flow readings.

The device that is used almost everywhere for such inspections are the thermal imaging camera, popularly known as the thermographic camera. It works more or less on the similar lines of a normal optical camera. The only difference is that it creates images with the help of radiations, rather than light. The lens of the camera entraps the radiations emitted by the object, which are a function of the temperature of the body. The higher the temperature, the more black body radiations would the object emit.

The technique used by the thermal imaging camera to create thermal images is known as density slicing. In this method of image slicing, a monochromatic image is displayed in a pseudo colour format. In this way, the intensity difference in the image becomes more clearer for the human eye to comprehend. How to do a home energy inspection using a thermal imaging camera becomes more clearer after understanding the density slicing technique.

These cameras generally operate at lower resolutions as compared to their optical counterparts. In a thermal image, the brightest part is the warmest. The brighter parts are highlighted by white and the colder parts are in the shades of blue. A legend is provided along with the images to identify different temperature ranges in the image.

The specialist carrying out the energy audit with the camera records and measures the area and the resistance to heat of the various parts of the house. Once it is done, the leakage rate and air infiltration rate is calculated. Hence the overall thermal performance of the entire building can be calculated. This activity also helps in determining the efficiency of the building and helps in designing better ventilation and heating facilities.

In the end, the specialist submits a detailed report that provides all the details of the energy consumption based on the climate criteria, various system settings etc. The report can be produced monthly, quarterly or on an annual basis. The report also highlights the impacts on environment due to the current consumption and also suggests ways to reduce the same. This is the most efficient way of how to do a home energy inspection using a thermal imaging camera.




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