Upgrading weather datasets for building energy simulation: A preliminary investigation

This paper presents the preliminary stage of a research aiming at developing an updated typical weather file for the airport of Catania, based on 18 years of records (2002-2019) from a local weather station owned by the Agrometeorological Sicilian Service (SIAS). The paper shows the statistical analysis of the main recorded weather variables (air temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity, global horizontal irradiation), and discusses how these data differ from those included in the weather file currently available for the same location, based on measurements taken in the period 1951-1970, which is still used in dynamic energy simulation tools. The paper will also discuss possible consequences on the energy performance of buildings; further developments, including the generation of the updated typical weather file and the detailed study of its impact on dynamic simulation results will be dealt with in a following paper.