ASHRAE climate research project
- Client Name
- The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers
- Location
- Multiple Locations, USA
Challenge
SLR was the selected consultant for ASHRAE research project 1561-RP: Procedures to Adjust Observed Climatic Data for Regional or Mesoscale Climatic Variations, which involved evaluating the modelling and use of site-specific meteorology for design engineers.
Solution
Using state-of-the-science meteorological models, SLR generated 1-year of data for the majority of the continental United States on a 4-kilometer grid.
SLR validated these models for use by ASHRAE members and has collaborated on the development of a simplified approach to allow design firms to develop site-specific meteorology in-house. This improved meteorological data will allow architects and engineers to design safer, more energy-efficient buildings with confidence that the data they are designing to is representative of the development site.
SLR was also awarded the second phase of work, ASHRAE research project 1699-RP: Update Climatic Design Data in Chapter 14 of the 2017 Handbook of Fundamentals, which will include further development of the modeling protocol and publication in the 2017 edition of the ASHRAE handbook.
Impact
Our role on this project included:
- Expert modelling of a full year of meteorology for a significant portion of the continental United States.
- Evaluation of the modelling parameters and outputs to ensure optimal performance.
- Collaboration on the development of a basic methodology for ASHRAE members to perform this modelling in-house.
