An Initial Database of Extreme Weather Data for Simulating Buildings Entirely Conditioned by Ambient Energy

Abstract This study reports the development of ambient meteorological year (AMY) weather data for simulating buildings that are heated and cooled entirely by ambient energy in example locations in 15 US climate zones. Indoor comfort in such buildings is more directly tied to weather, specifically to solar radiation and outdoor temperature, than in conventional buildings, which simply use more auxiliary energy to maintain comfort during extreme weather. Therefore, typical meteorological year (TMY) weather data, which is standard for conventional buildings, produce inconsistent results for ambient-conditioned buildings. More importantly, TMY fails to predict significantly uncomfortable indoor temperature that occurs during extreme seasons in some climates. Extreme seasons were identified by simulating ambient-conditioned buildings designed to remain comfortable during TMY2023 weather from all years (1998–2023) of real weather from which TMY2023 was derived. AMY files were assembled from the summer and winter seasons that produced the most extreme indoor temperatures. Indoor temperature for AMY weather matched within 0.2 °C those predicted from the extreme years. Simulation with these new AMY files reduces the effort and time required to design ambient-conditioned buildings, while providing reasonably accurate indoor temperature predictions.