[Bldg-sim] Fwd: Re: Cost of climate file

Dr Yi Zhang via Bldg-sim bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Wed Nov 16 08:52:22 PST 2016


Hi Joe,

 

I have absolutely no intention to suggest that paid stuff are of inferior
quality compared to the free stuff. Like you said, they must be judged on
their own merits, not by the price tag. My argument is that the real effort
behind "free" stuff, should it be driven by public/commercial funds or
personal endeavor,  can easily be overlooked. It is unfortunately human
nature not to pay attention to the things that can be obtained easily... (I
am thinking about energy, now.) By the way, I do believe people's personal
commitment is a much stronger driver for quality than money. 

 

The thing that irritated me was the cliché such as "the only good thing
about ... is its price", even though it may be true in certain situations.
Have you ever heard wise men saying "the most expensive kind of advice is
free advice"? If that is true, people should be fleeing from this forum
right now ;-)

 

Yi

 

From: Bldg-sim [mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of
Joe Huang via Bldg-sim
Sent: 15 November 2016 20:18
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] Fwd: Re: Cost of climate file

 

Yi,

I don't think Nathan was referring to climate.onebuilding.org when he
questioned the value of free weather data on the Web.  However, I think
you're expressing a reverse bias (maybe I'm wrong) that the free stuff is
more curated or quality controlled than the "commercial" stuff.   The
quality of anything on the Web, including weather data, should be judged on
their own merits, not their source or origin.  

I don't think of the "free" weather as free, but rather subsidized, mostly
by the government.  NREL did a fine job with the TMY2, TMY3, etc., but they
had a rather large DOE contract to produce them.  But after the project was
done and problems were found, NREL admitted to them in 2009, but the fix was
not made until six years later by an outside volunteer (me).  I'm saying
this not as criticism of NREL but to show that it's an imperfect world all
around.  

Joe

Joe Huang
White Box Technologies, Inc.
346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A
Moraga CA 94556
yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com for simulation-ready weather data
(o) (925)388-0265
(c) (510)928-2683
"building energy simulations at your fingertips"

On 11/15/2016 3:54 AM, Dr Yi Zhang via Bldg-sim wrote:

Considering how much of the web nowadays is built upon "free stuff", it is
very difficult to justify questioning the value of things you can get for
free on the internet just because someone said "a very wise man once said
so". Taking climate.onebuilding.org as an example, the arduous work Dru and
Linda have put into collecting, processing and quality checking everything
is truly amazing! If you have seen the folders still waiting to be processed
in Dru's laptop, you will know what I am talking about.

 

Yi

 

Dr Yi Zhang, PhD CEng MCIBSE MASHRAE

Director

Energy Simulation Solutions Ltd. (UK)

T: +44 (0)7809 572863

E:  <mailto:yi.zhang at ensims.com> yi.zhang at ensims.com

W:  <http://www.ensims.com> www.ensims.com

 

 

From: Bldg-sim [mailto:bldg-sim-bounces at lists.onebuilding.org] On Behalf Of
Nathan Kegel via Bldg-sim
Sent: 14 November 2016 20:47
To: bldg-sim at lists.onebuilding.org
Subject: Re: [Bldg-sim] Fwd: Re: Cost of climate file

 

It seems like this topic comes up on here nearly every week.

 

There are many sources of weather/climate data.  Some free, some not.  Some
are very questionable in their accuracy, others are not.

 

As a very wise man once said, “Just because you can get something for free
on the internet doesn’t mean it’s worth it”.

 

Can we create a mailing list rule that any time this topic comes up the
server just automatically replies with a series of links about where you can
get weather data?  I’d be happy to work with everyone on this list to
compile the links and put together the requisite disclaimers about knowing
where the data comes from and ensuring you’ve analysed it to ensure its
validity prior to using it.

 

In other words, haven’t we reached the point where weather/climate data
ought to be a “sticky” at the top of the mailing list?

 

As far as sources go, IES have compiled (an incomplete) listing of both free
and for-purchase sources of weather data.  For those interested, here it is:
http://www.iesve.com/support/weatherfiles

 

Kind regards,

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