Simulation hourly weather data

DesignBuilder uses EnergyPlus format hourly weather data to define external

conditions during simulations. Each location has a separate file describing

the external temperature, solar radiation, atmospheric conditions etc.

for every hour of the year at that location.

These hourly weather data sets are often 'typical' data derived from

hourly observations at a specific location by the National weather service

or methodological office.

Examples

of these typical data include TMY2 and WYEC2 in the United States and

Canada and TRY (CEC 1985) in Europe.

Because hourly weather data is not always available for every location,

it is often necessary to use weather data for a nearby location which

represents the weather of the actual site.

The DesignBuilder hourly weather data has been obtained from the

Weather section of the EnergyPlus website

and processed

using the

DesignBuilder weather data translator, but you can use any weather data provided it is in the correct format.

EnergyPlus format hourly weather data has extension 'epw' by convention.

Downloading Hourly Weather Data

DesignBuilder comes with a database of hourly weather data but the EnergyPlus

epw files are not loaded onto your computer until you actually need them.

This keeps

the size of the DesignBuilder setup program small. The first time you

require an hourly weather data file it is automatically downloaded from

the DesignBuilder Website into the Weather data folder on your computer where it can be accessed by EnergyPlus for any subsequent simulations. You must be connected to the Internet to download weather data in this way.