Infrared Imaging as a Means of Analyzing and Improving Energy Efficiency of Building Envelopes: The case of a LEED Gold Building

Today many designers claim that they are engineering green or LEED certified buildings. LEED is an evaluation system that rates how sensitive buildings are to the environment and the objective of LEED is to reduce emissions through development of highly efficient mechanical systems, designing of durable and efficient wall systems and by providing additional thickness to insulation. Unfortunately currently there are many cases where these wall systems and insulations are supported by thin steel studs, which are highly conductive of energy and are 400 times more conductive than wood.The aim of this paper is to investigate the use of thermal bridging in a LEED certified building. Thermal bridging is a major source of heat loss through studs and wall systems in many buildings worldwide. The investigated building is Gold certified building built in 2011 located in Toronto, Canada. The exterior walls consist of a copper and brick cladding and steel studs. Using thermal imaging, as a non-destructive testing method, this research investigates and identifies the location of thermal bridging. This study recommends how to integrate infrared imaging into the LEED certification process and how to improve the future design of efficient wall systems.