A preliminary investigation of the potential for thermographic images to influence householders understanding of home energy consumption

Thermographic imaging has been applied to the investigation of heat losses and other building related phenomena for a number of years. More recently, its use in the sustainability domain suggests a psychological effect; that householders, after viewing thermal images of their homes, are more likely to engage in energy conservation behaviour. In particular it is hypothesised that a thermal image will frame information in a personalised, visible and salient manner more likely to achieve behaviour change (Stern, 1992). The aim of this paper is to consider the potential for this use. 10 UK householders were shown thermographic images of their own homes; their reactions recorded and analysed. Results suggest that viewing the images may trigger a reasoning process leading to energy saving behaviours, but there are pitfalls. Data from 2 of these interviews are presented here as an illustration of this reasoning process and of the contrasting reactions to the energy saving potential inferable from the images.