Projected climate data for building design: barriers to use

Abstract

Building professionals’ use of historical weather data in performance analysis and design is an insufficient response to the impacts of a changing climate. Existing standards, laws and conventions in the US (and elsewhere) reinforce the use of typical weather files derived from historical data. Although projected climate data are readily available from reliable sources, significant barriers prevent adoption. These include a lack of consensus on the methodology for creating climate data for buildings based on climate models; a lack of a publicly available platform for providing climate projections for use in a format suitable for building analysis; a lack of consensus on a standardized framework for communicating results of simulation with long-term climate data projections; and liability concerns with using projection data. A coordinated response to these challenges is necessary across building design disciplines to ensure widespread adoption. Professional institutions, codes and standards organizations, and national governments have a key role to ensure that buildings created today are fit for climatic conditions in 20, 50, and 100 years’ time.