Spy plane employed to shame owners of heat-loss homes
Spy plane employed to shame owners of heat-loss homes-Life & Style-Property-TimesOnline Quote:
Spy-in-the-sky cameras are being used to identify householders who are wasting the most energy and to shame them into turning the central heating down.
Thermal images of homes have been taken by a light aircraft fitted with military spy technology to record the heat escaping from people’s houses.
Maps identifying individual homes have now been placed on the internet to encourage occupiers to reduce their wastage and carbon emissions by fitting insulation and turning the thermostat down.
Haringey Council, in London, has become the first authority in England to place house-by-house thermal maps on the web, after the example of Aberdeen in Scotland.
Making the information available to the public is intended to raise awareness of how much energy is being used needlessly, putting up bills and contributing to global warming.
It is hoped that homeowners with high wastage levels will be shamed into improving the property’s insulation.
Other authorities have shown interest in the spy technology, including Chester-le-Street District Council, which carried out a survey but has yet to put data on the web, and Norwich, which is considering the idea. It is seen as part of the armoury against global warming, which scientists are convinced is worsening because of man-made carbon emissions.
Haringey’s mapping took place on a winter’s night when households were likely to have the heating turned up high.
An aircraft, fitted with a military-style thermal imager, flew over the borough 17 times to take pictures of almost every house in the area.
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One wonders where and how far this will go.
does this mean those who cannot afford to improve their household carbon footprint will be penalised through increased rates upon their houses?
May 6, 2007, 11:59 am
