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Guardian
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Essential surveillance kit for the new green police:
the Energy Saving Partnership has taken out a patent
on Heatseekers, thermo-imaging vehicles which, at full
potential, have the capacity to identify 1,000 properties
an hour, or 5,000 properties a night, that are leaking
carbon.
“Once the property has been scanned, a dedicated team
of energy advisers will visit householders to show them
the thermal image scan of their homes,” says Inspector
Knock-on-the-Door.
That’ll go down well after midnight.
This press release from Reading
Borough Council states that the city will be adopting
the thermal imaging technology.
We also learn that "The revolutionary technology
will identify households that don't have cavity wall
and/or loft insulation and are subsequently 'leaking'
heat."
Why not just ASK the householder what insulation he
has?
I guess it is more Big Brother to have 'agents' snooping
around in vans as part of surveillance operations.
"The Heatseekers scheme," we are told, "is
being delivered by Reading Borough Council in conjunction
with the Energy Saving Partnership, thanks to funding
from the Government's Carbon Emissions Reduction Target
(CERT) programme.
I'm all for reducing energy use where appropriate,
but when I see things like "Carbon Emissions Reduction
Target" I assume the worst. The 'target' culture
has helped destroy the effectiveness and reputation
of the police forces. I presume targets in education
have a part to play in the rise of semi-literate school
leavers.
I wonder what trail of destruction these targets will
produce.
Comments can be left on my
blog.
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