[Bldg-sim] Weather Files

[Arpan Bakshi]

Recently seen a number of weather file requests for hard to obtain
locations.
The cross-post below from the EnergyPlus list serv will be of use.
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The EnergyPlus team can provide weather files created using Meteonorm. These
are posted on the EnergyPlus YahooGroup under Files >
Meteonorm_Weather_Files.

Locations are listed alphabetically by country. More than 280 locations are
currently available--look there first before asking for a new weather file.
Link to the file:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EnergyPlus_Support/files/Meteonorm_Weather_Files/Meteonorm_Weather_File_Inventory.xlsx

Information on selecting weather data is described in this paper:
Drury B. Crawley. 1998. "Which Weather Data Should You Use for Energy
Simulations of Commercial Buildings?" in ASHRAE Transactions, pp. 498-515,
Vol. 104, Pt. 2. Atlanta: ASHRAE. (PDF 197 KB)

PDF:
http://energyplus.gov/pdfs/bibliography/whichweatherdatashouldyouuseforenergysimulations.pdf

Requesting Meteonorm Weather Data for Your Location. Send the information
either to this group or to the helpdesk
(energyplus-support at gard.com<energyplus-support%40gard.com>
)

You will need to supply:

Name of Location (including country)
Latitude (N+/S-)(decimal format preferred)
Longitude (E+/W-)(decimal format preferred)
Time Zone (+/- GMT)
Elevation (meters)

For convenience, you can convert lat/long in degrees minutes seconds to the
decimal format by visiting this web link:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html

And you should be aware of Meteonorm limitations:

Meteonorm extrapolates hourly data from statistical data for a
location. Where statistical data aren't available, Meteonorm interpolates
from other nearby sites. Generally a statistical approach is a last resort--
weather files generated from statistics will not demonstrate the normal
hour-to-hour and day-to-day variability seen in measured data.

Each .ZIP includes a .STAT (EnergyPlus weather data statistics), .EPW
(EnergyPlus weather file), and .INFO (Information about the source data and
limitations from Meteonorm).

IN ALL CASES, YOU SHOULD REVIEW THE .STAT FILE FOR THE LOCATION BEFORE
USING
ANY OF THESE FILES TO ENSURE THAT IT REPRESENTS THE CLIMATE OF THE LOCATION
AS
YOU UNDERSTAND IT. IN MANY CASES, A NEARBY LOCATION WITH MEASURED DATA MAY
BE
MORE APPROPRIATE THAN ONE DERIVED FROM STATISTICS.

YOU USE THESE FILES ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

As always, if you know of sources of weather data that we might be able to
share with the EnergyPlus community, please contact us.

EnergyPlus Development Team
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