Help! I'm Naked! Does Infrared Imaging Show Too Much?

A friend of mine recently sent me a news story that made me just shake my head. It discusses how the City of Boston had decided to use thermal imaging to check for heat loss in city homes. If you have ever been in Boston in the dead of winter, believe me when I say you want every little bit of heat to stay INSIDE! The city hoped to increase enrollment in energy efficient programs by being able to visually show residents where heat loss was occurring. Here's a link to the article.

Sadly, they were prevented. It seems that ignorance of how thermal imaging actually works (perhaps coupled with some of the fictional stories we see on TV) has prevented what could have been an amazing opportunity for the city to help improve on the lives of their citizens and keep them warmer.

Does thermal imaging work the way it does on TV? On TV, we see Jack Bauer and his cronies tracking heat images of criminals inside of buildings. Well...that's simply misleading.

IR cameras can see heat or hotspots in buildings (example if a building has a fire in one of its rooms). But an infrared camera simply can NOT be used to see through a wall. It can only see heat radiating from an exterior building wall. If you are inside of your house taking a shower and I'm standing outside with a camera, I can NOT see you. The technology we use simply doesn't work that way. (If it did, some teenage boy would have already invented an app for that!)

Rest assured that your privacy inside your home or office cannot be violated by a certified thermographer who is checking for hot spots within a building or who is checking for heat loss during an energy audit.


Interested in learning more? Call me at                                     803-328-2889                   and let’s talk!

IR Infrared Services provides top quality thermographic service at a competitive price to commercial  users in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information, visit http://www.irinfraredservices.com/ or follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/infraredscans. We are proud to offer the very best thermography services in North Carolina and South Carolina!