Reaching the 10-year mark is a big milestone for any initiative — and it’s even more impressive when it’s an initiative driving real change, helping residents save energy and reduce costs. In this blog we celebrate a decade of success with Sustainable St Albans’ Thermal Imaging Camera Initiative.
St Albans District’s heat loss problem
Heat loss is a big problem for many houses in the UK. Old homes with insufficient insulation often leak heat through the walls, windows, doors and roofs. This leads to us using more energy to heat our homes, which increases our energy use and bills – the St Albans City & District Council estimates that the energy we use in our homes accounts for half of the district’s greenhouse gas emissions. Despite well-known culprits, it’s not always easy to identify the source of heat leaks and gaps where cold air enters.
Thermal imaging cameras take colour-coded images highlighting temperature differences to help you work out where your home is leaking heat. They can identify insulation gaps, heat loss around windows and doors, missing (or dropped) cavity wall insulation, inefficient radiators in need of flushing, underfloor heating blockages, incorrectly fitted doors and much more.
Once you have this information, you can take steps to plug the gaps. Some of the fixes are as simple as drawing your curtains or adding a draft excluder, while others require more complex work.
A loft hatch needing insulating
The draught from patio doors and on the right showing the impact a draft excluder makes
Heat being lost from a single glazed window in a door, and the impact of a door curtain on the heat lost
How it all began
Inspired by the Cambridge Carbon Footprint scheme, trustees Lesley Flowers and Andrew Allen had the idea to loan thermal cameras to residents in St Albans and Harpenden to help them improve the energy efficiency of their homes. They bought the first thermal imaging camera in 2014, helped by a localities grant from Cllr Teresa Heritage.
It was hugely popular and in 2015 we bought another camera with the help of locality grants from Geoff Churchard (Sandridge), Robert Prowse (St Albans East) and Sandy Walkington (St Albans South). Sustainable St Albans now has three cameras to borrow – one based in Harpenden, one in St Albans and a community camera for schools and community groups.
The thermal imaging camera’s impact continues
The project has continued to be hugely successful and demand for the camera has grown steadily each year. The pandemic didn’t slow success. The team simply moved the information sessions online in 2020 and set up contact-free collection. Winter 2022/2023, when fuel prices were at their highest, was the team’s busiest year, so far.
During that time, over 750 households, 20 local schools and over a dozen community groups have benefited from the camera. The volunteers have run over 190 information sessions with over 900 attendees.
Borrowers have given the volunteers overwhelmingly positive feedback, describing the project as a “very useful and practical initiative” run by “really helpful members.”
Hot water leaks and wintering bees
The camera’s use isn’t limited to checking insulation or doors – one borrower used it to check where hot water pipes were leaking under concrete floors. Another used it to check on her bees overwintering – it showed that her bees were well-clustered (and keeping warm) in their hive. Schools have used it in science lessons to teach the next generation about the importance of understanding heat loss. You can read about other ways St Albans residents have used the cameras.
The community camera initiative
In 2023, the team set up a community camera scheme to loan a camera to schools and community groups for a week at a time. Last winter, it was on loan for over 15 weeks, during which seven schools, four community groups and several individuals benefited from its use. Community groups such as Sopwell Eco Stars and Wheathampstead Preservation Society have borrowed the camera and loaned it to multiple households and schools.
The volunteers who make it happen
Lesley Flowers continues to lead the project along with a team of volunteers. Caroline and Sheila look after the St Albans camera, and volunteers Alison, David, Judith, Ruxandra and Julian have also joined over the years.
Judith Leary Joyce, author of Beginner’s Guide to Eco Renovation, joined the team in 2021. Following her TEDx, she opened her Victorian Eco Home up to the public to show how retrofitting her home has saved 75% on her energy bills. These hugely popular open days are now a regular feature in the Sustainable St Albans Events calendar.
Good news travels fast
Our initiative has helped raise the profile of Sustainable St Albans in the district and further afield, with one borrower saying; “this is a really good project and has made me aware of Sustainable St Albans and the great work they are doing.”
This enthusiasm has led to several local radio features and even a mention in the Guardian. And, just as another group inspired Lesley and Andrew to set up the project, numerous groups within Hertfordshire, the south east and even Yorkshire and the Peak District have got in touch with the team to talk about setting up their own scheme. The team has shared information with many other members of the Transition Network interested in setting up similar schemes.
Lesley being interviewed by Louise Parry from BBC Three Counties Radio in January 2019
How to borrow a thermal imaging camera
You can find more information about borrowing the thermal imaging camera on the dedicated webpage. Check out the Sustainable St Albans Events page for details about our information sessions, which run every winter. We encourage you to borrow the camera multiple times to see the impact of changes you’ve made to your home, later in the season or in subsequent years. There is also an SSA Thermal Imaging Camera Facebook group for camera borrowers to share experiences.
You will also find volunteers from the team at the Harpenden Sustainability Markets. The team will be at the next market 10-3pm on the 17th of November, so come along to find out more about the initiative.
You can borrow the thermal imaging camera for free – you just need to make a security deposit which we’ll return when you bring back the camera the next day. However, since the charity Sustainable St Albans is funded entirely by donations and grants, we very much welcome donations to cover running costs and organisation; thanks to the borrowers’ donations over the years, we also purchased the third thermal imaging camera in 2022.