Is Typical Year weather data still appropriate for Building Energy Simulation? A comparative analysis on the traditional practice of using Typical Year weather data and a modern approach in using Historical weather data in Building Energy Simulation
posted on 2021-10-15, 17:11authored byChun Yin Siu
This research compares the use of Typical Year weather files (CWEC1990s and 2016) and Multi-Year Historical weather data (CWEEDs1998 to 2014) in Building Energy Simulation. The analysis is comprised of several components: 1) a statistical analysis on the raw weather elements - differences in the cumulative distribution of key weather elements, and relevant weather indices are compared; 2) analysis on the differences in heating and cooling energy estimations; 3) analysis on the impact of the staggered update cycles between weather data used for equipment sizing and simulation. Computer scripts created
to automate tasks related to multi-year simulation are also presented. It is found that critical insights are missing when Typical Year weather files are used for simulations. Simulation with Multi-Year Historical data shows potential as a reasonable alternative, since they can be updated more frequently and contain a wider range of conditions. Repetitive tasks can also be automated with scripts.