Of all the tools Home Green Home uses to perform an energy audit, one of the most useful is the thermal imaging camera. By allowing us to see heat and temperature variations, the camera can help us to identify opportunities for reducing energy loss in a house.
Today, on this very cold and wintry day, nature is giving us the benefit of a thermal camera without the expense.
If you look at your roof, you will quickly and easily be able to tell whether it is covered with snow or not.
A roof that is covered with snow like the one to the right (click on the photo to make it larger)tells you that there is a good chance that the air sealing and insulation systems installed in the attic are functioning well.
For most houses, the attic should be the same temperature as outside. If that is true, then the roof will be freezing inside and outside and the snow will remain frozen for a long time.
Or, does your roof look more like this one?
This roof is telling us that warm air from the house may be leaking into the attic. When the roof is warmed from below, the snow will melt or slide off more quickly.
Warm air leaking into an attic is a sign that you are wasting energy. Every cubic foot of warm air that leaks out is replaced by a cubic foot of cold air that leaks in. That cold air must then be heated, costing money and energy.
If your roof is melting in either a generalized or patchy way and your neighbors are not, there is a good chance that your house is leaking energy. If your roof is nicely frozen, you may still be leaking in other places.
Marc Bluestone
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