Monitoring energy losses of a residential building through thermographic assessments

One of the significant opportunities for reducing energy waste and carbon emissions is the renovation, modernization, and rehabilitation of existing buildings. Replacing the windows of existing residential buildings with new energy-efficient ones is an easy way to upgrade an existing home into a nearly zero-energy building, NZEB (nearly zero-energy building). There is a wide variety of methods to discover the thermal weak points of a building, and the continuous innovation of construction materials provides solutions to maximize energy savings and minimize heat transfer to the exterior. This document presents a methodology for visualizing and recording the temperature distribution on the investigated surface of the building envelope to identify and locate vulnerable points where heat losses to the exterior are substantial. The objective was to highlight the need for upgrading the insulation system and replacing the existing windows of the analyzed building based on a multi-objective approach to maximize the building's energy performance and increase thermal comfort indoors. Using a Fluke Ti300+ Thermal Camera, energy losses were visualized through thermographic assessments, which could provide an adequate picture for accurately assessing the building's condition before renovation, to evaluate the need for partial renovation. For the case study, a residential building with one floor and mansard roof located in a region with hot summers and cold winters in Romania was chosen. The results showed that there are several options for significantly reducing the building's energy consumption. Thus, multiple energy efficiency solutions were proposed for the building to reduce heat losses.