INDUSTRYGEODATA
Bassetlaw, a Nottinghamshire based local authority, is planning to use the data to reduce CO2 emissions in the area and educate the public on energy efficiency.
“Living in a safe, warm and well-maintained home is essential to enjoying a good quality of life,” commented Kerri Ellis, Sustainability Officer at Bassetlaw District Council, “and we have introduced a fuel poverty reduction campaign to support this objective. The thermal data will help us accurately identify individual properties at risk of fuel poverty and enable us to proactively target households for tailored advice.”
Bassetlaw District Council will overlay the digital thermal map with other housing related intelligence such as SAP ratings (Standard Assessment Procedure - a method for measuring the energy rating of residential properties used in the United Kingdom) and Warm Front (a scheme funded by the UK government to provide improvements in domestic heating and insulation) information. The property specific intelligence will then be used to identify individual properties and streets at risk of fuel poverty, target Council resources efficiently and effectively across a largely rural population and to provide a benchmark for ongoing works.
Thermal surveys are also playing their part in warmer climates. Recently a thermal mapping project was completed as part of the Municipality of Dubai’s programme of sustainable development. The resulting thermal map, which identifies contributing factors to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) such as asphalt, building materials and air conditioning vents, is being used to support a range of ‘cool and green’ environmental initiatives. Covering more than 600 square kilometres of the emirate’s area 30,000 individual photographs were orthorectified and mosaiced into a single, seamless, map accurate image. A series of analyses were conducted on the data to identify heat sources such as asphalt and building materials, prevalence of open spaces and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) units.
Success Abroad
The Dubai Aerial Thermal Survey was conducted on behalf of the Environment Department and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department of the Dubai Municipality. Reported comments from the Director of the GIS Department Mohammed Abdullah Al Zaffin include “There are various reasons for experiencing different temperature levels in different locations. In urban areas, more roads mean more temperature as asphalt does not reflect the solar heat but absorbs
it.” The results of the project are now with Environment Department, “Field visits are already being made in some areas and there are plans for more green initiatives to reduce the level of temperature.”
Over the last decade Dubai has been one of the fastest growing construction projects in the world with a growing array of world class sky scrapers and high tech buildings. The UHI effect is caused by a modification of the land surface, mainly through development projects that use materials that retain heat. A secondary contributor to UHI’s is the waste heat generated by energy usage. UHIs can have far reaching implications for people’s health and quality of life and the issue in Dubai is being addressed strategically at various different levels and may include painting house roofs white and planting more trees.
“By maximising the potential for green energy generation projects while highlighting inefficiencies in energy usage we hope our mapping products and services will help householders and communities as well as public and private sector organisations play their part in protecting the environment while also saving them money,” concludes Tidmarsh.
© 2011 Angel Business Communications. Permission required.
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www.solar-pv-uk.com Issue IV 2011
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