Our climate conditions are already changing – Should we care?

Abstract

The IPCC and many others predict significant changes to our climates over the rest of this century, including average temperature increases for 2–5°C. However, we can see possible indications of change already – increasing frequency of severe storms and other weather events. However, many of the major weather data sets used around the world for building energy simulation are more than 15 years old. Does it matter? This paper compares several of the major data sets used in building performance simulation against newer data derived from the past 15 years. Ten of the past 15 years are the hottest on record and this rapidly changing climate already is evident in the temperature record. We use energy simulation to demonstrate how the various data sets impact energy use. In addition, the design conditions for heating and cooling calculations are already seeing slight changes over the past 20 years. Data for 12 locations around the world is used to demonstrate the changing climate that we already see.

Practical application : This paper encourages building designers to use the most up-to-date climatic data in their design and evaluation of building performance.