Fun with infrared imaging

A way to think about efficiency in your home

Infrared cameras are an amazing thing. They're now low-cost and extremely accurate tools. They also let us quickly get a sense for the level of insulation in a home.

Consistent insulation of homes in California started with the introduction of Title 24 regulations in 1978. The 1970s-era energy crisis suddenly made everyone aware of the importance of saving energy. The state government responded by mandating that home construction become more efficient, including mandating insulation in new construction.

You can see the what a classic pre-Title 24 building looks like below, in an infrared image of a Victorian-era home in San Francisco. The color scale moves from blue at the coolest, up through green, yellow, red and white at the warmest. It's a relative color scale for each image, so it's hard to compare across images.

This building has no insulation. You can tell, because on this cool January night, the wall studs stand out as cooler vertical lines, with more heat escaping from the un-insultaed space between the studs and showing up in green/yellow in this image. Some heavy bracing is also showing up as a cool, blue X in the middle of the wall. Notice the warmest areas are at the tops of the windows, which are likely single-pane and not sealed.

The house below, a more modern suburban construction, shows the effects of insulation: The studs on the top story show up warm, because they are letting more heat out than the insulation. Current building codes address even this issue, mandating insulation in or on the studs so that they do not act as a heat transfer medium.

Note that the bottom story entrance to this house is leaking like a sieve. The lower story likely has a leaking window or door, or some flaw in the insulation. This can be investigated more closely from inside the house.

Lets take a look at this last image: it's a large suburban house in Marin County with solar panels and a Tesla parked out front. These people clearly care about their carbon footprint. But they don't know that the architectural panels on the front of their house are transmitting a tremendous amount of heat, increasing their footprint and their energy bills. For much lower cost than their solar setup, they could decarbonize by insulating under these panels. They would probably increase the comfort of their home as well.

If you want to have a conversation with us about infrared imaging or any other decarbonization-friendly investigations, drop us a note or give us a call.