I believe that behind major social changes are simple, subtle technological changes that give us the tools to alter our world. For the green movement, I believe that the price of infrared cameras will be one of these factors. Let me explain…

I attended the Seattle Green Festival last weekend. http://www.greenfestivals.org/ It was interesting, and for the most part what I had expected. I think the general air of wanting to change things for the better is what most draws me to events like these. One booth did get me thinking about how one small technological change could have great leverage for actually effecting change. That wasn’t their intention. They wanted me to pay for their service where they visit your house and tell you how you can stop heat loss making your house more efficient. What was interesting about these guys was that they use a 30k infrared camera to figure this out.

Using this camera they could see .5 degree changes through your walls. They could see water seepage problems. They could see where our insulation ended. For 10k you could buy a camera that could see 2 degree differences. This isn’t as much detail but, it was getting a similar result. After they inspected your house, then you knew where all the problems are and how much it is going to cost to fix them.

So this got me thinking. At what price point will these cameras have to be, before home inspectors use them to review a house on the market? As home buyers get pickier about the cost to heat a home, the demand for better reviews will go up. At some point you will start seeing home inspectors reviewing, not just the construction of a home, but using an infrared camera to look into the home and tell you how much insulation it has. I know I would have paid an extra $100 dollars for this service from my home inspector. If a home inspector did this 100 times a year then after 1 year they could pay off a 10k camera. Now if I would have known which houses were better insulated it would have influenced how I purchase a home. And if that is true about me than I bet a lot of people would pay more for a house that is cheaper to heat. The end result is that sellers would probably spend some extra money to insulate a home before it goes on the market if they knew they would be accountable to seller for how the home is insulated.

So watch the price of infrared cameras. When it dips low enough, you might notice house inspectors armed with these altering the topology of the home buying landscape. As the inspectors hold all of us accountable for how much heat we waste, the world will get greener.