This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
The Colorado College Building Energy Audit and Retrofit Program will acquire two infrared cameras to increase the quality of energy audits, assess the validity of computer model simulations, monitor the impact of follow-up retrofit work and increase the educational components of the Program. The cameras will provide pictures of heat flow in and out of a building to guide the audit process and facilitate communication of results to interested parties. Infrared images taken after the completion of proposed retrofit work will provide valuable information on quality of retrofits and help to validate the computer model predictions.
The infrared cameras will support the community outreach of the Program by allowing for fast identification of inefficient buildings and entire neighborhoods in need of energy retrofits. Most of the target neighborhoods are low-income areas and in need of assistance to reduce utility bills and increase comfort levels within buildings. The infrared cameras will also improve knowledge of actual reduction of green house gas emissions that will help the Colorado Springs Utilities strengthen their Demand-Side Management Program for monitoring emissions reductions. Finally, the infrared cameras will allow for a stronger educational component on the properties of heat and infrared radiation for students involved in the audit and retrofit project and provide more data to incorporate into the analysis process.
