The cameras are available free of charge and can help people make small improvements, such as covering gaps causing drafts in the home, or consider if more substantial home upgrades would be appropriate such as insulation.

The cameras use infrared technology to detect where heat is escaping from the home, highlighting areas like gaps around doors, windows, letterboxes, and plumbing fixtures connected to the outside. These issues can potentially be remedied for a low outlay cost while delivering significant savings on energy bills.

This technology will help people to make small changes to keep their homes warm during winter. A cold home can exacerbate health inequalities, worsening conditions such as respiratory and cardiovascular disease and poor mental health.

There are 11 thermal cameras available. They can be reserved by Wiltshire library members and collected from any Wiltshire library for a loan period of one week. The camera connects to a smartphone or tablet via Bluetooth and used with the FLIR ONE app.

Cllr Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Communities, Leisure and Libraries, said: “I’m really pleased that we have been able to make thermal imaging technology available to residents so they can easily see what improvements could be made to their home to make it more energy efficient.

“With energy prices going up there may be small things residents can do to reduce their bills for winter and keep their homes warm to prevent health conditions, such as covering gaps around doors or windows, or get an insight into whether they need substantial upgrades such as insulation for their homes.

“Even if you live in a modern or energy efficient home, I would encourage you to borrow a camera free of charge to see where your home might be losing heat from and what simple steps you could take to save money on your energy bills.

“This project is another example of the huge amount of work we are doing to meet our climate objectives for the county while also supporting our business plan objective of empowering residents to live full, healthy and enriched lives.”

For more information about borrowing a thermal imaging camera, residents can visit Borrow a thermal imaging camera.