Tailoring Future Climate Data for Building Energy Simulation

Abstract

Net-zero energy building (NZEB) is widely considered as a promising solution to the current energy problem. The existing NZEBs are designed using the historical weather data (e.g. typical meteorological year-TMY). Nevertheless, due to climate change, the actual weather data during a NZEB’s lifecycle may differ considerably from the historical weather data. Consequently, the designed NZEBs using the historical weather data may not achieve the desired performances in their lifecycles. Therefore, this study investigates the climate change impacts on NZEB lifecycle performance (i.e., energy balance, thermal comfort and grid interaction) in different climate regions, and also evaluates different measures’ effectiveness in mitigating the associated impacts of climate change. In the study, the multi-year future weather data in different Chinese climate regions are firstly generated using the morphing method. Then, using the generated future weather data, the lifecycle performances of the NZEBs, designed using the TMY data, are assessed. Next, to mitigate the climate change impacts, different measures are adopted and their effectiveness is evaluated. The study results can improve understanding of the climate change impacts on NZEB lifecycle performance in different climate regions. They can also help select proper measures to mitigate the climate change impacts in the associated climate regions.