| Managing Energy Costs With the Real Estate market | | | | technology and micro electronics, cameras weigh only |
| getting a little "soft" these days, it's not a great time to | | | | 2 to 5 pounds and are affordable by small business. |
| sell a house. As a result, many homeowners are | | | | New cameras run from $7000 to over $100,000. Not a |
| choosing to wait it out and are doing repairs and | | | | insignificant amount but much better than before. |
| upgrades to their existing homes. | | | | These price reductions and ease of use have made it |
| Energy costs are going up and with winter coming on, | | | | possible for a small business owners as well as |
| heating bills could be a challenge. How can you get | | | | industrial and utility companies to own their own |
| ahead of the curve on this issue? | | | | cameras. |
| One answer is getting a "Weatherization" survey to | | | | Many manufacturing companies and utilities have |
| see where you can better seal and insulate your | | | | Thermographers on staff, full time. Their role is |
| house to prevent heat loss and infiltration. | | | | Non-Destructive Testing and Predictive Maintenance. It |
| There is a "new" tool for this. It's called Infrared | | | | is much cheaper to find and repair faults in mechanical |
| Thermography. | | | | and electrical equipment before they fail than waiting |
| This done with a special cameras that "see" in the | | | | for failure that can completely shut down a facility, |
| infrared spectrum only. Visible light is not a | | | | throwing many people out of work, costing millions of |
| consideration. In effect, it sees heat. Given the right | | | | dollars and possibly saving lives. |
| conditions, the Thermographer can locate moisture | | | | The average cost savings is considered to be at 20:1. |
| leaks, air infiltration, missing insulation, duct leaks, breaks | | | | That is for every dollar spent on thermography, 20 |
| or blockage in radiant heating systems in floors or | | | | dollars are saved. Pretty smart idea, right? |
| ceilings and many other conditions that are costing you | | | | You too can take advantage of this concept right in |
| money. | | | | your home or business. |
| The existence of the infrared wavelength of radiation | | | | By getting a "weatherization survey" you can find and |
| was discovered by Sir William Herschell, an | | | | correct problems in your home that are costing you |
| astronomer, in 1800 while searching for a new optical | | | | money. |
| material. It lies just beyond the red area of visible light in | | | | Do you have a drafty house with leaky windows? A |
| the radiation spectrum and manifests itself as heat. | | | | few dollars of caulk, applied in the right places (as |
| Normal window glass blocks the transmittance of | | | | determined by the survey) can save you big money |
| infrared light. This is what causes the "green house" | | | | on heating and cooling bills. |
| effect. Visible light passes through glass, gets | | | | Does your heating system seem to always be |
| converted to infrared when it strikes an object and | | | | running? This could be those leaky windows or |
| then is trapped in the structure because that infrared | | | | possibly a leaky or disconnected heating duct |
| cannot pass back through the glass. I'm sure you have | | | | somewhere. More dollars spent trying to keep up with |
| seen the depiction of a beam of sunlight split into a | | | | infiltration or for heating the attic or crawl space. |
| rainbow by a prism. | | | | Got a persistent roof leak that the roofer just can't pin |
| There has been a huge improvement in the equipment | | | | down. Maybe a trained thermographer can, thereby |
| and techniques over the last 200 or so years. Many of | | | | saving the cost of a complete re-roof! |
| these have been funded by the Government as part | | | | Do you suspect that there may be mold in the walls? |
| of military research. | | | | A trained thermographer can detect moisture intrusion |
| The early cameras were very complex and heavy. | | | | when there are no visible signs. Avoid tearing open |
| They required liquid nitrogen to cool the detector, | | | | walls to find that the problem lies elsewhere. |
| weighed in excess of 200 pounds and cost a small | | | | So...you can see where I'm going with this. STOP |
| fortune. Because of this, their adoption by civilian | | | | wasting money, get an Infrared Weatherization survey |
| industry was limited. Now, due to advances in detector | | | | done soon. You will be glad you did! |