For Energy Wasters, the Heat Is On

Now here’s an invasion of privacy I can really get behind. (Or rather, above.)

A British company called Hotmapping has been doing thermal surveys of local districts using spy planes. The results are being posted on the web by district councils, with the upshot being that you can now see which houses are leaking heat. Blue houses are cool; red houses are taking their energy dollars (or pounds, in this case), and spewing them into the atmosphere.


Aberdeen in Scotland and Haringey Council in London are the first districts to do the thermal imaging thing. Not far behind, I am very proud to say, is my hometown, tiny old Chester-le-Street in Co. Durham.

This is so fantastically useful on so many levels I don’t know where to begin. First of all, it’s useful to the individual homeowners, who can save up to 60% on the average energy bill simply by adding insulation. That, of course, will also significantly reduce their contribution to carbon emissions.

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