Infrared thermography is a technology developed in the mid 1950's by the American Military. The technology uses a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is not visible to the human eye. Every object that has a temperature above absolute zero (the point at which the atoms composing the material stop moving) emits thermal energy. This energy has wave lengths longer than those visible to the naked eye. On the electromagnetic spectrum thermal infrared radiation is right between the visible light and microwave radiation.

Though the technology was created over half a century ago it is considered state of the art. Much like computers the first infrared cameras were bulky and incredibly expensive. As the technology progressed and became more affordable it was found that infrared imaging had many different applications. It is used in the auto industry, pharmaceutical industry, the engineering industry, by law enforcement and by firefighters just to name a few.

In our application of this technology we use an Infrared camera with radiographic capacity. This gives us the ability to take a thermal image of an object and be able to tell the temperature of any said point on the image. Employing the technology in this waymakes it a powerful diagnostic tool in building science and in preventative maintenance. Not only can we tell that something is overheating, we can say by how much it is overheating. This could very easily make the difference between an emergency shut down or an note for scheduled maintenance. Applied to building science this could be the difference between ripping down a wall for a leak only to find a cool draft, or noting a cool draft and sealing the problem. An infrared camera and an experienced operator can find that mystery leak, over heating wiring, various other structural mechanical and electrical issues.