Collecting and using weather data from open sources for climate analyses and building simulations

This master’s thesis aims at showing the potential of using open source weather data, from a public network, for the generation of local weather files and for climate analyses in the built environment domain. The first step consists in the massive download of weather data from a weather stations’ network. The data is organized and stored in a time-series database (InfluxDB). This local data is then used as input for some self-developed tools, able to generate standard weather file formats, such as EnergyPlus Weather (EPW) files and Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) files, used for dynamic building simulations. The results in a location near Turin are then compared to the ones gathered using a combination of the ERA5, ERA5-Land and CERRA reanalysis models’ data as input, to show how the latter often underestimate the local dry-bulb air temperature in urban areas and, more in general, the required cooling. Additionally, a tool for the assessment of a local climatic phenomenon, called urban heat island (UHI) effect, is developed, and it is shown how this effect is evident both in the Turin and Barcelona areas. Moreover, a tool for the evaluation of the climatic potential of two different passive cooling and heating systems, Earth-to-Air Heat Exchangers (EAHX) and Passive Downdraught Evaporative Cooling (PDEC), is developed and the results for the selected location, always near Turin, show how they both can be effective in reducing the active cooling need and, therefore, reducing the energy needs of buildings. Finally, the possibility of using the gathered data for climate change analysis is considered but, due to the short data history, it is concluded that, at the moment, this type of source is still not very significant for this particular application.