Thermal Imaging of existing buildings can identify where new insulation needs to be installed or it can show sources of major air leakage and thermal bridges. These areas are locations in the building fabric where relatively cheap and minor remedial work can affect major improvements to thermal performance.
Thermal imaging is often used alongside airtightness and U-value testing to gather information about the need for new insulation in existing buildings. Measuring the energy loss from a building allows a designer, with existing knowledge about the designed energy demand, to size a boiler or heat pump for example. The results are effective and if performed multiple times throughout a retrofit project, can be used as a visual representation to show the real effects of the increased thermal performance as new elements are installed.
New buildings can be surveyed to ensure that the as-built construction meets the designed specification. Assessment methods such as BREEAM necessitate a thermal imaging survey to award the relevant classification. Information from thermal imaging reports allows designers and architects to modify designs and installations to improve overall thermal performance. This saves time, money and most importantly for the Net Zero aspect, energy.
Thermography is a powerful tool, used to verify and improve construction techniques in a bid to reduce the energy losses associated with buildings and to improve the thermal comfort of the occupants, following a ‘fabric first' approach. With most buildings around in 2050 the year the government have set to achieve net-zero energy targets, having been built already, we must give special focus to the technology and tools that will aid improvements to thermal performance in existing buildings; thermal imaging is such a technology.