[Bldg-sim] Please sign an open letter of support for NREL's weather and solar radiation efforts

[Joe Huang]

Ever since I started doing building energy simulations in the early 
1980's, I have always relied upon NREL's TMY weather files for US 
locations.  Over the years, NREL has led the way in improving the data 
quality as well as coverage of weather files.  Before the TMY2s, how 
many of us thought that weather files should be self-describing, and 
before the TMY3s, how many thought it was possible to have TMY files for 
over 1,000 US locations?

Therefore, when I was contacted recently by Dr. Manajit Sengupta of NREL 
to provide a letter of support for their proposal to DOE on continued 
funding of their work on solar radiation,  I said of course, but then 
suggested that someone should point out to DOE Solar that the  whole 
building  energy community has been heavily reliant on NREL's weather data.

After discussions with several organizations in which I'm involved, I've 
concluded the best way to convey this message is to provide NREL a 
letter of support signed by individuals, rather than in the name of any 
organization. I have now written such an Open Letter that I am posting 
on bulletin boards such as this one (see following and also here).  If 
you wish to add your name in support of this Open Letter, please go to 
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com/support-NREL .   I will be 
accepting names through Monday, after which I will close the sign-up 
list and send the letter to NREL.

I want to be clear that this is an individual effort, and its appearance 
on this bulletin board does not imply any endorsement by the bulletin 
board, nor of the organizations with which any of the signatories are 
affiliated.

----- Open Letter of Support for NREL's proposal to SunShot National 
Laboratory Multiyear 
Partnership---------------------------------------------

April 22, 2015

Manajit Sengupta, Ph.D

National Renewable Energy Laboratory

15013 Denver West Parkway

Golden, CO 80401

Re: Letter of Support for NREL's proposal to SunShot

National Laboratory Multiyear Partnership

Dear Dr. Sengupta,

We the undersigned wish to express our support to NREL's research 
proposal titled "Solar Resource Calibration, Measurement and Dissemination".

As engineers and architects dedicated to the design and operation of 
energy efficient buildings, andas researchers and consultants in the 
field of building energy simulations, we've relied heavily on the 
meteorological data that has been developed by NREL going back to the 
1970’s, including the various versions ofthe Typical Meteorological Year 
(TMY) weather files and the National Solar Radiation Data Base (NSRDB), 
as well as other climatological data summaries. We especially look 
forward to seeing the outcome several aspect of your proposal pertaining 
to the following areas:

•Maintenance and upgrading of the Renewable Resource Data Center (RReDC)

•Maintenance and upgrading of the National Solar Radiation Data Base 
(NSRDB), in particular the new datasets using satellite based models 
providing accurate grid-based solar data for any location in the United 
States (as well as international locations if possible).

•Updated and expanded coverage of TMY data sets incorporating the 
above-mentioned solar radiation data.

•Continuing your research work that is crucial to new ASHRAE standards 
in climate zone definitions and energy efficiency standards.

•We perceive high value in NREL's updating of its best practice handbook 
on solarresources for solar energy application as a participant in IEA 
Task 46.

We believe that continued work by NREL in this proposal is unique and 
extremely beneficial to the work that we undertake todesign, construct, 
and operatemore energy-efficient buildings, and improve our ability to 
analyze building energy performance. Furthermore, the proposed work also 
supports other major efforts being undertaken in the setting of building 
energy performance standards, rating systems, and incentive programs by 
other organizations such as DOE, ASHRAE, or various utility companies.

Sincerely,

[please give your name, affiliations, and e-mail address]note thatthe 
affiliation s are purely for identification, and do not imply their 
endorsement of this letter, and that e-mail addresses are for my record 
keeping and will not appear in the letter of support.

{for example:Joe Huang, White Box Technologies, ASHRAE TC 4.7 Energy 
Calculations Chair,

IBPSA –USA Board member. ]

-- 
Joe Huang 	
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com for simulation-ready weather data
http://www.whiteboxtechnologies.com
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"