Development of typical year weather data for Chinese locations

Abstract

Since their development starting in the late 1970's, computer simulations have become accepted as the most detailed way to calculate the dynamic behavior and energy use of a building over an entire year. Their use in a large developing country such as China, however, has been hampered by the absence of detailed hourly weather data. For computer simulations, the weather data must have hourly records of at least temperature, humidity, wind speed, and both direct and total solar radiation. Furthermore, to avoid the random variations in weather from year to year, the weather data should be for a hypothetical typical year, rather than an actual year of record.