Enterprising officials from the Minnesota town of Warren are using drones equipped with thermal sensors to gauge heat seepage from local buildings and houses as part of a public service to help homeowners cut spending on energy.
The scheme was described by Warren City administrator Shannon Mortenson on the Institute for Local Self-Reliance’s energy affairs podcast. The town is a member of the Climate Smart Municipalities Partnership, in which cities in Minnesota and Germany link up in sustainability and climate initiatives. Warren and its German oppo, Arnsberg, decided to map out their respective cities to create an accurate profile of structural insulating inefficiencies and varying losses of heat. To do that, Warren decided to fly drones equipped with thermal sensors, then combine the different photos together until they had a full municipal map.
Since costs – or more accurately, avoiding as many of those as a medium-sized Midwestern town can take on…
