Hot spots: how thermal imaging can help find where your home is leaking cash

theguardian.com:

To really get to grips with where your home is needlessly costing you energy a thermal imaging camera is a great tool: it shows up exactly where the hotspots for heat loss are, in multicolour.

In some parts of Britain it is possible to borrow one for free so you can find where to target your energy-saving efforts without any upfront cost.

Transition towns – communities that are working to promote sustainability and cut emissions – often have a camera loan scheme for local people. Bear in mind that most of these projects are very small scale and rely on volunteers: if you want to borrow one on demand you will need to go for a commercial hire company.

To use a thermal imaging camera effectively you need about a 10-degree difference between the temperatures indoors and outdoors, so the schemes typically operate only through the winter months.

Sustainable St Albans is one group that runs a loan scheme – it’s been doing so since 2014 during which time several hundred locals have used it. Residents need to sign up for a training session before they can take a camera home, with the next one set to take place in the autumn. (People who are interested can sign up to a monthly email newsletter where they will see details at the time.)

St Albans residents who have borrowed the cameras have reported being surprised by what they saw, with one saying there was “a lot more heat loss than envisaged”, and another saying “even drawing the curtains made a difference”.

Transition Bath also has a camera that people can borrow after training – Philip Haile from the group says this is because cameras can provide false positives, which users need to be careful to avoid. “Typically the camera is a good conversation point in motivating people to think