Business & Tech

Medfield Residents Show Strong Interest in Thermal Imaging to Detect Home Heat Loss

Editor's note: The following article was submitted by Medfield resident David Temple.

Even before the Jan. 17 public information meeting at the , Medfield residents have shown strong interest in the free thermal imaging project being readied by the Medfield Energy committee.    

The committee and the Board of Selectmen plan to have Sagewell, Inc., of Woburn conduct a drive-by thermal imaging of most Medfield houses some cold night this winter, using technology that is only two years old, but which was tested and proved in a few Massachusetts towns last year. This will be Medfield’s first-ever community-wide energy audit.

The . The imaging will enable homeowners to see if and where excess heat is being lost through faulty wall and roof insulation and windows. Residents could qualify for a $2,000 MassSave rebate to help reduce energy loss. The imaging will be performed at no cost to homeowners or the town.

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Sagewell President Pasi Miettinen says their revenues come from two sources: contractor-paid referral fees, plus, in some cases, state government funding. Miettinen reported receiving enthusiastic responses from Medfield residents after an article appeared in the local media in December.

He shared some comments:  

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"I would appreciate it if you would include our house in your free thermal imaging in Medfield. We would like to improve our heat loss and would like to view the analysis report of our house.”

"I see from an article in our local paper that you will soon be coming to Medfield to analyze our homes. I would very much like to have our home included. Thanks."

"I am reading the article regarding thermal scanning in the Hometown Weekly, and I am writing to request my home be included in the Medfield scan."
 

A public information meeting on this project, followed by a Q&A period, is scheduled in the library for Tuesday evening, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. As the accompanying sample thermal image shows, a thermogram displays different colors according to variations in the temperature of objects in the image. It does not provide image detail like a conventional photograph.

In a thermogram, colder objects show up as blue, warmer objects show up as red and hotter objects show up as yellow. The heat-loss images will be made available to home owners at Sagewell’s password-protected website. Home owners will be able to go there to register to see the analysis of their home (and only their home) this spring. 

Reports are free, and building owners are under no obligation to buy any products or services from the contracting companies that sponsor the free reports. If the thermogram shows heat-loss problems, homeowners don’t have to do anything.

But if they choose, their next step would be to order an energy audit. Home owners can get started now by requesting a free MassSave energy audit through Sagewell’s website. Current MassSave rebates offer up to $2,000 towards insulation costs when it is installed by MassSave-authorized contractors.

According to Miettinen, a typical home insulation cost is $2,500 before rebates, with a home owner net out of pocket cost of about $500 after rebates.    Buildings not visible from public streets cannot be imaged. Also, the program will concentrate on larger roadways, and smaller streets may not be covered.

Any building owner who wants to be included in the program can send an e-mail to request@sagewell.com, and Sagewell will prioritize the imaging of those buildings whenever possible. Building owners can request to be excluded from receiving an analysis report by sending an email to optout@sagewell.com.  

The Medfield Energy Committee was established in 2008 to find ways to cut the annual energy cost for the town-owned buildings. Since then, the school department’s annual energy bill has dropped $180,000, about enough to pay the salaries of several teachers. Most of the committee members are professionals in an energy or environment-related field. The chair is Marie Zack Nolan. Other members are Lee Alinsky, Fred Bunger, Penni Conner, Fred Davis, Cynthia Greene, Charles Kellner, Pete Peterson, Emre Schveighoffer, Mike Sullivan and David Temple.


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