Businesses and householders in Portsmouth will now be able to identify thermal inefficient properties through a new online mapping portal (pictured).

Using specialist thermal sensors mounted on a survey aircraft, aerial mapping company Bluesky recorded the heat loss from buildings across the city on a cold winter night. The data was then matched to address records in order to create a postcode look-up function, which enables people to enter a postcode and view the specified area.

Portsmouth City Council, which commissioned the survey, hopes the online thermal mapping will encourage businesses and households to take action to improve the energy efficiency of their property, enabling them to save money, cut fuel poverty and improve the city’s carbon footprint.

Jasmine Fletcher, Climate Change and Sustainability Co-ordinator at Portsmouth City Council said: “We originally commissioned the Bluesky thermal survey to identify Council owned properties that could benefit from energy efficiency measures. However we soon realised the data had a much wider potential and appeal.

“Having entered their postcode and selected the address of interest from the returned list, visitors to the website are presented with a colour coded map of their property and those surrounding it for context. The visitor can then view a list of frequently asked questions and is directed to other areas of the council’s website for additional advice and support.”

According to the council’s estimates, installing loft and cavity insulation into a property which is leaking a lot of heat could save up to £700 over three years. The news follows the UK Government’s Green Deal launch last month, which enables householders to make energy efficient improvements through savings on their energy bills.