Friday 25 October 2013

Art gallery uses ‘snake vision’ to hunt down energy waste

York Art Gallery has used ‘snake vision’ to hunt down energy waste whilst refurbishing its buildings.

Just as serpents use infrared detectors in their snouts to lock on to the heat signature of prey, the gallery has taken advantage of thermal imaging to track wasted heat escaping its buildings. It helped the contractor Arup work out the most cost effective ways to improve energy efficiency.

Environmental Strategies Ltd which carried out the survey identified ineffective insulation in the roof, poorly sealed windows in the Art Store (pictured) and uncovered pipe joints near a recently replaced boiler as some of the biggest problems.

Helen Wheeler-Oman, Projects Director at the firm said: “The thermograms effectively illustrated the main areas of heat loss from the building.  This was especially apparent when we could identify which rooms above the Art Store had the radiators switched on, just by analysing the thermal patterns.”