The Sky is the Limit to Find Uninsulated Homes

Members of the Coventry Partnership's Environment Theme Group have proposed an innovative aerial thermal survey of the city to be carried out this winter in order to help people insulate their homes.

Coventry Partnership brings together public, private and voluntary sector organisations in the city in order to make Coventry a growing, accessible city where people choose to live, work and be educated and where businesses choose to invest. One of the key themes is tackling climate change and the Environment Theme Group has recently been re-launched to help achieve this goal.

Over 40 delegates met on Friday 12th September at Coventry Transport Museum for a lively event which discussed practical ways in which collaborative working can really begin to make a difference to the city's carbon emissions and deliver the climate change strategy.

The top project idea was to carry out a thermal survey of the city using an advanced infra-red camera to spot areas where buildings are losing heat and require additional thermal insulation.

This will be the first time that such a high resolution camera has been used to survey a whole city from an aircraft.

The results will be more accurate than ever before due to the use of advanced GPS mapping which will mean that a heat source as small as a shoebox can be detected.

The survey will be carried out on a cold night this winter with the results available early in the New Year.

"I am very excited by the idea of being able to actually see heat losses from buildings and provide advice and support to residents to help them keep their fuel bills low and reduce their carbon footprint. We all think we've done enough but this will let us check whether we can do more in a very visible way. Personally I can't wait to see whether the work I've done to insulate my house has paid off!"
Nigel Lee, Cabinet Member for Climate Change, Housing and Sustainability

It's envisaged that this will allow the identification of houses that would benefit from additional thermal insulation and ensure that residents make full use of the various grants that are currently on offer from the government and other sources.

This survey should help ensure that Coventry residents take full advantage of the additional funding for insulation announced by the Prime Minister on 11th September.

This new package comprising £910 million from the big energy suppliers intends to help people with soaring gas and electricity bills by providing free or half-price insulation to lofts and cavity walls as well as a freeze on this year's bills for the poorest families.

An earlier but less detailed aerial survey carried out in 2007 has allowed the council to contact hundreds of residents to offer help with insulation and highlighted the need for a detailed survey to pinpoint hotspots.

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Chimney Balloon

I just had my head up my chimney today, and when I told people I was inflating a balloon up my chimney earlier, they thought it was some kind of euphemism. Usually not one to get my hands dirty, I was right in the action with soot everywhere. I had ordered a Chimney Balloon from Flusystems on Sunday and it arrived today. I had tried to order one last year just before Christmas when I wrote Winter Warmer Ideas, you have to practice what you preach, but the company was just featured in a national newspaper (the Guardian, I believe) and they were struggling to cope with the orders they were receiving.

The device was designed in 1990 to stop chimney draughts, and has some bold claims on their website, including;

"A room with a blocked chimney needs only about half the heat compared with rooms with open chimneys, so it makes sense to fit a chimney balloon in every chimney which is not in everyday use."

The chimney balloon is made in a special laminate of three plastics to make it airtight, tear-resistant and long-lasting. It also has a special shape that allows a little ventilation on two corners to keep your chimney dry. Using a chimney balloon is completely safe, if it is accidentally heated, it shrivels and deflates.

I was slightly skeptical about the claim that it requires only 50% the energy to heat a room with one installed, so I did the non-scientific hand infront of the flue, outside there was a small breeze, and this could be felt entering the room slowly and consistently.

I placed my chimney balloon into the flue and started blowing, gently making sure that it was postitioned well as it inflated, it took a few tries as I was dubious that my inflation, angle and postitioning was, well not good.

After completion I repeated the non-scientific hand infront of the flue, no breeze, good job. Just to make sure it is functioning properly you should check it after 24 hrs to make sure that it hasn't reduced in size due to cooling of the air in the balloon, and again every month or so.

The chimney balloon is effective mainly because of one single principle, warm air rises and cold air sinks. With the chimney balloon we can stop both at once, keeping cold air from entering the room, and warm air from escaping up the chimney. Chimneys act as a funnel and pump to take warm air away. This is a good thing when your fire is lit and the warm air is full of smoke.

It did make the room feel warmer, but then again I am a nieve person that when taking placebos thinks they are working. I believe it works, and works effectively, it's a small difference, that will save some energy without even having to try, and with global energy prices still high it could pay for itself in less than one winter.

As well as ordering a chimney balloon, I ordered radiator reflector panels, which hopefully will arrive soon (I'm going to try a more scientific test with them), and will be installing solar thermal water heating this October which we hope will reduce our energy consumption by providing the equivalent of 1500kWh of hot water heating a year, for an energy efficiency dork like me it's mighty exciting.

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