Summer is just around the corner and you know what that means — delicious barbecues, trips to the beach… and outrageous energy bills.

When the temperatures rise during the summer, it’s inevitable that your energy bill will too. Assuming you don’t want to sweat like a pig, you’ll be using your air conditioning unit more often and in turn, generating higher energy usage. But there’s good news. With the help of a new gadget, you can prepare your home for the heat and dramatically lower your energy consumption.

The FLIR ONE is a new product and the first of its kind. This small, lightweight device attaches to your smartphone or tablet and allows you to see with thermal vision. Why is that important? Well, there’s a multitude of things that can be seen through differences in heat signatures but are invisible to the naked eye. By checking for proper insulation and airflow, you could find that a small fix early on could prevent months of unnecessary high-energy bills.

For instance, let’s say you have a home with older windows. Though you might have them closed while the air conditioner is running, the window frames may not be properly insulated. When this happens, cold air leaks through the frames causing your air conditioner to work that much harder to hold a constant cool temperature. The harder it works, the higher your energy bill.

With the FLIR ONE, you can easily check all of the windows in your house to see if air is leaking through the frames. If it is, you may want to consider replacing windows BEFORE you waste a summer’s worth of energy.

Another important part of your house to check is your air ducts. If your ducts are blocked for any reason, you may find yourself cranking your air conditioner on high trying to achieve your ideal temperature. While your energy bill is soaring, a simple fix would be to just clean out the duct. The FLIR ONE can help you find exactly where the blockage occurs.

And finally, give all the walls in your home a look with the FLIR ONE. If you’re seeing big heat spots, it may mean that your house was not properly insulated. The thin or uneven insulation could be allowing the summer heat to fight in through the walls. Beefing up your insulation could help hold in the cool air-conditioned air.

Once you get through your first summer with the FLIR ONE, you won’t believe how handy it comes in when it’s time to winterize your home.