Salford City Council (UK) is using a property-level thermal image map from BlueSky to improve the quality of life for local residents, tackle climate change and help meet government targets for improved housing and fuel poverty. The BlueSky thermal image shows the relative temperature of every property in the city, helping to identify properties with high heat loss and therefore potentially poor insulation. Properties with lower relative temperatures, which may be affected by fuel poverty, can also be identified. This information is being used by the Council to effectively target individual properties for their ‘no-cost & low cost’ insulation programmes and raise awareness of energy efficiency among residents.
Salford City Council, in support of its mission, “To create the best possible quality of life for people in Salford”, has made seven pledges to its 220,000 residents, covering fundamental issues such as health, crime and learning. The final pledge to residents is to “Enhance life”; this promise includes specific targets to reduce domestic energy inefficiency with installations of affordable warmth measures.
“The intelligence afforded by the BlueSky thermal survey data enables us to effectively target our activities and resources,” said Councillor Peter Connor (Lead Member for Housing). “We can identify specific vulnerable properties from the desktop, and offer advice, practical support and grants. The imagery is also a valuable tool to improve our communication with residents as it provides an easily interpretable snapshot of energy use in the city, helping us to promote energy efficiency measures and raise awareness and helping to reduce the impact on the environment”.
The property level thermal infrared survey data was captured using an airborne thermal infrared sensor, a modified version of technology used by the military for night vision. Captured early evening during the winter in order to capture the widest variations in temperature, the raw survey data was processed by BlueSky to calculate heat loss values for every building polygon in the Council’s Ordnance Survey mapping. The processed data was delivered to the Council as a colour coded map providing an instant snapshot of the borough and as a map-accurate dataset for use in the Council’s Geographical Information System (GIS).
“By comparing the thermal survey data with other essential information, such as census data and indices of deprivation within our GIS, we can be more efficient and effective in our proactive work to help residents achieve Affordable Warmth, meeting the government’s fuel poverty and climate change targets.”
