Data collection in Georgetown
Living Labs looking into temperature checks for heat retainment
Researchers at Georgetown Living Labs have been concluding temperature checks for heat retainment this month in residential homes throughout the town.
The first step in the public data collection has been successful, and researchers at UPEI can now begin feeding the data into computer models and generate a map of Georgetown’s energy usage.
Kuljeet Grewal, assistant professor at UPEI’s faculty of sustainable design engineering and a member of the Future Urban Energy Lab, told SaltWire the data collection step of the plan is proceeding smoothly.
“It’s a new technique we are developing, that’s why we are collecting thermal imagine on different days, different environmental conditions, to see the variations in the thermal imaging,” Grewal told SaltWire last month.
The surveying is done with thermal cameras and information provided by homeowners, such as their energy usage and the type of home heating they use.
Responses from Georgetown residents have been positive, Grewal said. The data collection serves to benefit homeowners in the present, as well as Georgetown in the future.
“That will create awareness as a homeowner or as a building owner how you can conserve that energy and going forward how you can retrofit,” Grewal said.
Grewal’s team has captured resident surveys and thermal imaging for more than 190 commercial and residential buildings in Georgetown.
Including summer homes, Georgetown is estimated to have 250 commercial and residential buildings. Grewal and his team intend to survey as many as possible to improve computer modelling of the town.
The next community engagement event in Georgetown will be on April 25 at the Playhouse in Georgetown and will focus on the next steps of data collection in the area.
Caitlin Coombes is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter, a position funded by the federal government. She can be reached by email at caitlin.coombes@saltwire.com and followed on X @caitlin_ coombes.