Council uses spyplane with thermal imaging camera to crack down on homes wasting energy

Published 23rd Mar 2009

A council has been using a spyplane with a thermal imaging camera to crack down on hundred of thousands of homes and businesses wasting energy.


Council bosses paid £30,000 to hire the aircraft to produce a colour-coded map showing the most energy-wasting properties.

Council officers now plan to visit those properties to tell home and business owners how they can improve insulation in a bid to cut carbon emissions.
Thermal imaging home

A council has spent £30,000 using a spyplane carrying a thermal camera to determine which homes are wasting energy. File photo

The hi-tech map should also help identify elderly people who are barely heating their homes because they cannot afford it.

Council officials will offer OAPs advice on electricity tariffs and tell them about benefits they might be entitled to but are not claiming.

Broadland District Council in Norfolk hired the plane from Leicestershire-based company Bluesky for five days at the end of January and the start of February.

The aircraft took images of homes and business, with those losing the most heat showing up as bright red and those which are not giving off energy highlighted in blue.

The authority is one of the first in the country to use the method but other councils are now set to follow suit.

Andy Jarvis, head of environmental services at Broadland council, said the project was originally designed to identify businesses which were losing too much energy.

'We wanted to pick them out so we could show the information to them and say "do you realise what you are losing"and signpost them towards advice and grants which are available,' he said.

Mr Jarvis said officers realised the maps could also be used to identify homes wasting energy as well as flagging up those not well heated enough.

'We do a lot on domestic energy conservation already and realised it would be useful to see if any of the homes which were particularly hot were properties where people had not insulated their lofts,' he added.

Experts say a typical home wastes hundreds of pounds on lost heat each year, mainly through lofts, windows and walls.

Some estimates suggest one pound in every three spent on household energy is thrown away.

Mr Jarvis said the company which provided the plane operated a policy which meant they offset the carbon emissions from the flights.

He said other local councils were now poised to hire the heat-loss plane.

Simon Woodbridge, leader of Broadland District Council, said he thought the project offered huge value for money.

'It will effectively pay for itself within a few weeks in terms of the amounts of money we can help people to save,' he added.

Haringey Council, in north London, was the first in the country to trial the techonology.

But environmental groups gave it a cautious welcome and said it may have been simply 'a gimmick' of little real value.

But Liberal Democrat group leader in Broadland, Stuart Beadle, backed the spyplane move.

Cllr Beadle said: 'I think anything which can be done to bring energy efficiency to the fore is well worthwhile, especially if we can target the commercial and residential properties which most need advice.

'Cameras are in place all over today and we have to accept them.

'So long as the right guidelines are in place and it will bring benefits, I think the scheme is a good thing.'

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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