The reports on the buildings will be available on a password-protected website. The city will not have access to the records.
An infrared image of a commercial building provided by Sagewell Inc.GREENFIELD – A thermal imaging initiative designed to show residents and businesses owners how to improve their buildings’ energy efficiency is almost complete.
The city announced that about 500 people will receive free efficiency reports in an effort to help them curb costs and reduce their carbon footprints.
Workers for the Woburn-based company Sagewell, Inc., drove through the city in hybrid vehicles equipped with thermal imaging cameras, photographing buildings to determine where better insulation could be used. If heat loss can be prevented, it could keep energy costs and consumption down.
The imaging is part of a study sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources that will analyze this data in buildings from different time periods. Anyone who wants his or her building’s information used in the study can ask by sending an email to priority@sagewell.com.
Anyone who does not want imaging done on his or her building can send an email to optout@sagewell.com. The imaging is still ongoing, but will be complete soon depending on the weather, said Sagewell president and CEO Pasi Miettinen.
The cameras record only the surface temperatures of the objects directly in front of them and cannot “see” through windows.
To help offset the costs of insulation and other energy efficiency improvements, many residents are eligible to participate in Mass Save, which helps users find incentives for upgrading old appliances, utility discount rates and fuel assistance, among others.
Carole Collins, the city’s energy and sustainability coordinator, said Sagewell “can draw some conclusions and then streamline some ways to make energy efficiency easier.”
The reports on the buildings will be available on a password-protected website. The city will not have access to the records.
For those who want to make efficiency improvements, but do not qualify for Mass Save, there are “definitely other resources available,” Collins said, such as the Franklin County branch of the non-profit Community Action.
This winter and spring, Sagewell has imaged over 60,000 buildings in 13 communities, said Miettinen.
“Ten to 15 percent of the buildings can get quite reasonable savings. They may be as high as 30 percent,” he said. “For a building with a $4,000 or $5,000 heating bill ... that’s a pretty significant savings.”
That figure does not include additional savings that can be gained through Mass Save or other programs.
Miettinen said the imaging is a good investment for the government, as well, because it can keep fuel assistance demand down.
“So many people are like, ‘Please take a picture of my house!’” Collins said.