Localized Actual Meteorological Year File Creator (LAF): A tool for using locally observed weather data in building energy simulations

Building energy simulations are normally run through Typical Weather Years (TWYs) that reflect the average trend of local long-term weather data. This paper presents a research aimed at generating updated typical weather files for the city of Catania (Italy), based on 18 years of records (2002–2019) from a local weather station. The paper reports on the statistical analysis of the main recorded variables, and discusses the difference with the data included in a weather file currently available for the same location based on measurements taken before the 1970s but still used in dynamic energy simulation tools. The discussion also includes a further weather file, made available by the Italian Thermotechnical Committee (CTI) in 2015 and built upon the data registered by the same weather station but covering a much shorter period. Three new TWYs are then developed starting from the recent data, according to well-established procedures reported by ASHRAE and ISO standards. The paper discusses the influence of the updated TWYs on the results of building energy simulations for a typical residential building, showing that the cooling and heating demand can differ by 50% or even 65% from the simulations based on the outdated weather file.

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Influence of the Meteorological Record Length on the Generation of Representative Weather Files

Energies ◽

10.3390/en13082103 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (8) ◽

pp. 2103

Author(s):

Michele Libralato ◽

Giovanni Murano ◽

Alessandra De Angelis ◽

Onorio Saro ◽

Vincenzo Corrado

Keyword(s):

Strong Dependence ◽

Building Energy ◽

Weather Data ◽

Air Temperatures ◽

Change Effect ◽

Climate Change Effect ◽

The Common ◽

Energy Simulations ◽

Heat And Moisture ◽

Weather Record

Heat and moisture (HM) transfer simulations of building envelopes and whole building energy simulations require adequate weather files. The common approach is to use weather data of reference years constructed from meteorological records. The weather record affects the capability of representing the real weather of the resulting reference years. In this paper the problem of the influence of the length of the records on the representativeness of the reference years is addressed and its effects are evaluated also for the applicative case of the moisture accumulation risk analysis with the Glaser Method and with DELPHIN 6, confirming that records shorter than 10 years could lead to less representative reference years. On the other hand, it is shown that reference years obtained from longer periods are not representative of the most recent years, which present higher dry-bulb air temperatures due to a short-term climate change effect observed in all the considered weather records. An alternative representative year (Moisture Representative Year) to be used in building energy simulations with a strong dependence on moisture is presented.

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Generating test reference years from the UKCP09 projections and their application in building energy simulations

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology ◽

10.1177/0143624411418132 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 387-406 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

H Du ◽

CP Underwood ◽

JS Edge

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Carbon Emission ◽

Building Energy ◽

Weather Data ◽

Research Groups ◽

Future Time ◽

Climate Change Projections ◽

Time Horizons ◽

Energy Simulations ◽

Operative Temperatures

In this study, test reference year (TRY) data for three UK cities are generated from the new UKCP09 climate change projections 1 for a variety of future time horizons and carbon emission scenario assumptions. The data are applied to the energy simulation of three commercial buildings and one house for the three city locations (London, Manchester and Edinburgh), three future time horizons in this century and three carbon emission scenarios. Results are compared with those generated using alternative TRYs from two other research groups who used UKCP09 1 as well as with the existing TRY data sets which form the CIBSE Future Weather Years 2 in order to produce robust results. Results of future simulations of peak summer operative temperatures, peak cooling demand, annual cooling energy, peak heating demand and annual heating energy are presented for the four building case studies benchmarked against control weather data for the period 1960–1989. The results show increasing internal operative temperatures (non-air-conditioned) and increasing air-conditioning demands (air-conditioned) throughout this century and though peak heating demands remain similar to control data, annual heating energy consumptions can be expected to fall sharply. Practical applications: Currently, practitioners can use Test Reference Years for use in building energy simulations. In 2009, the CIBSE released Future Weather Years, which go further by allowing practitioners to explore the thermal and comfort behaviour of buildings at future time horizons thus helping to ‘future proof’ a design. In 2009, the United Kingdom Climate Impacts Programme released a new generation of climate change scenario data (the UKCP09 climate change projections) using probabilistic methods. These are the most comprehensive data yet and provides a greater degree of detail than was available to generate the CIBSE Future Weather Years. It is therefore likely that the new data will gradually become the normal basis for investigating future building thermal and comfort response. In this study, a sample of TRY is generated from the UKCP09 data and applied to the simulation of a sample of ‘real’ buildings. The results are compared with both the existing CIBSE Future Weather Years as well as with Test Reference Years generated using UKCP09 by two other research groups. The results provide a robust way forward for simulating building thermal and comfort response using future weather data.

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Evaluation of Multiyear Weather Data Effects on Hygrothermal Building Energy Simulations Using WUFI Plus

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14217157 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (21) ◽

pp. 7157

Author(s):

Michele Libralato ◽

Alessandra De Angelis ◽

Giulia Tornello ◽

Onorio Saro ◽

Paola D’Agaro ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Building Materials ◽

Moisture Transfer ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Building Energy ◽

Building Envelope ◽

Weather Data ◽

Building Simulations ◽

Coupled Heat And Moisture ◽

Single Number ◽

Energy Simulations

Transient building energy simulations are powerful design tools that are used for the estimation of HVAC demands and internal hygrothermal conditions of buildings. These calculations are commonly performed using a (often dated) typical meteorological year, generated from past weather measurements excluding extreme weather conditions. In this paper the results of multiyear building simulations performed considering coupled Heat and Moisture Transfer (HMT) in building materials are presented. A simple building is simulated in the city of Udine (Italy) using a weather record of 25 years. Performing a multiyear simulation allows to obtain a distribution of results instead of a single number for each variable. The small therm climate change is shown to influence thermal demands and internal conditions with multiyear effects. From this results it is possible to conclude that weather records used as weather files have to be periodically updated and that moisture transfer is relevant in energy and comfort calculations. Moreover, the simulations are performed using the software WUFI Plus and it is shown that using a thermal model for the building envelope could be a non negligible simplification for the comfort related calculations.

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Future Weather Data for Dynamic Building Energy Simulations: Overview of Available Data and Presentation of Newly Derived Data for Belgium

Energy, Environment, and Sustainability - Energy Sustainability in Built and Urban Environments ◽

10.1007/978-981-13-3284-5_6 ◽

2018 ◽

pp. 111-138 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Delphine Ramon ◽

Karen Allacker ◽

Nicole P. M. van Lipzig ◽

Frank De Troyer ◽

Hendrik Wouters

Keyword(s):

Building Energy ◽

Weather Data ◽

Energy Simulations ◽

Derived Data

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Hourly test reference weather data in the changing climate of Finland for building energy simulations

Data in Brief ◽

10.1016/j.dib.2015.04.026 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 162-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Kirsti Jylhä ◽

Kimmo Ruosteenoja ◽

Juha Jokisalo ◽

Karoliina Pilli-Sihvola ◽

Targo Kalamees ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Building Energy ◽

Weather Data ◽

Changing Climate ◽

Energy Simulations

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Italian TRYs: New weather data impact on building energy simulations

Energy and Buildings ◽

10.1016/j.enbuild.2018.12.001 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 185 ◽

pp. 287-303 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Giorgio Lupato ◽

Marco Manzan

Keyword(s):

Building Energy ◽

Weather Data ◽

Energy Simulations

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Generation of a Test Reference Year for Alūksne, Latvia

Proceedings of the Latvia University of Agriculture ◽

10.1515/plua-2015-0006 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 46-54 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Mārtiņš Ruduks ◽

Arturs Lešinskis

Keyword(s):

Selection Process ◽

Meteorological Data ◽

Weather Conditions ◽

Building Energy ◽

Weather Data ◽

Building Performance ◽

Climate Data ◽

Meteorological Observations ◽

Energy Simulations

Abstract Precise and reliable meteorological data are necessary for building performance analysis. Since meteorological conditions vary significantly from year to year, there is a need to create a test reference year (TRY), to represent the long-term weather conditions over a year. In this paper two different TRY data models were generated and compared: TRY and TRY-2. Both models where created by analysing every 3-hour weather data for a 30-year period (1984–2013) in Alūksne, Latvia, provided by the Latvian Environment Geology and Meteorology Centre (LEGMC). TRY model was generated according to standard LVS EN ISO 15927-4, but to create second model - TRY-2, 30 year average data were applied. The generated TRY contains typical months from a number of different years. The data gathered from TRY and TRY-2 models where compared with the climate data from the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers regulation No. 379, Regulations Regarding Latvian Building Code LBN 003-01. Average monthly temperature values in LBN 003-01 were lower than the TRY and TRY-2 values. The results of this study may be used in building energy simulations and heating-cooling load calculations for selected region. TRY selection process should include the most recent meteorological observations and should be periodically renewed to reflect the long-term climate change.

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Performance verification of typical and design weather year by thermal load calculation targeting office building

Building Services Engineering Research and Technology ◽

10.1177/0143624418754377 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 147-160

Author(s):

Yusuke Arima ◽

Ryozo Ooka ◽

Hideki Kikumoto

Keyword(s):

Energy Demand ◽

Building Energy ◽

Cumulative Distribution ◽

Weather Data ◽

Quantile Mapping ◽

Data Set ◽

Peak Energy ◽

Wide Range ◽

New Type ◽

Energy Simulations

We proposed a new type of weather year data for building energy simulations named the typical and design weather year, which can be used for estimating both average and peak energy demand for one year of building energy simulation. The typical and design weather year is generated using a quantile mapping method. In this paper, we made the typical and design weather year for three cities, Tokyo, Sapporo, and Kagoshima, representing a wide range of climatic conditions in Japan, and evaluated its performance by conducting building energy simulations targeting prototypical office buildings. We found that the typical and design weather year was more than twice as accurate in estimating average energy demand as the existing typical weather year data. Typical and design weather year can also estimate peak energy demand with high accuracy. Practical application: The cumulative distribution functions of a target weather data set, on which quantile mapping is performed, are modified to consist entirely of parent multi-year weather data. Therefore, typical and design weather years based on quantile mapping are expected to be useful as versatile weather year data representing the various weather characteristics of multi-year conditions. In this study, we found that the typical and design weather year can estimate both average and peak energy demands in building energy simulations. New type of weather year data named the typical and design weather year can be used as both typical and design weather data.

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