[Equest-users] [Bldg-sim] [EnergyPlus_Support] White Box Technologies brings simulation weather data to the satellite age [1 Attachment]

Joe Huang yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
Fri Jan 12 18:42:49 PST 2018


I can certainly calculate the statistics, but I need some time first for more urgent 
matters such as updating as well as replacing the modeled solar on all the 2017 weather 
files. From what I've seen so far,  I expect the aggregate totals to change a little for 
US locations because the modeled solar had already been calibrated against satellite solar 
from another source in 2015, while for Canada and Europe the changes might be from a 
little to moderate, and larger still for other parts of the world.  On an hourly and even 
daily basis, I expect the differences to be much larger, but who's to say that the 
satellite data which are on a 3-5km grid are necessarily better?  Please stay tuned.

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 1/12/2018 8:21 AM, Karen Walkerman via Bldg-sim wrote:
> Wow, Joe.  This is fantastic.  I'm curious if you will be publishing statistics showing 
> the differences in solar radiation as calculated using the old methods versus the new 
> satellite data?  That would instigate a very interesting conversation indeed.
>
> Be well,
>
> Karen
>
> On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 9:14 PM Joe Huang YJHuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com 
> <mailto:YJHuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com> [EnergyPlus_Support] 
> <EnergyPlus_Support at yahoogroups.com <mailto:EnergyPlus_Support at yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
>
>     It is with joy and some trepidation to report that White Box Technologies (WBT) is
>     updating all its historical weather files with satellite-derived solar radiation.
>     Joy because this overcomes what has been the most significant question mark with
>     weather files; trepidation because of the amount of work needed to carry out and
>     maintain this effort. To show that this is more than marketing hype, I need to give
>     a rather long explanation about this development.
>
>     The bane of weather data over the past three decades has been the solar radiation
>     (global horizontal and direct normal) which are not measured parameters, but derived
>     using various solar and sky models. All the familiar "typical year" sets, i.e., TMY,
>     WYEC, IWEC, etc., let alone the historical weather files, have modeled solar
>     radiation. Although a lot of
>     work has gone into such models (see M. Iqbal,"An Introduction to Solar Radiation",
>     Academic Press, 1983), there remain an almost intractible problem of the lack of
>     good measured solar to tune any of these models. For example, in the ASHRAE IWEC2
>     weather files, my team was able to find one or two years' measured data for less
>     than 50 locations,
>     from which were derived 28 sets of regression coefficients then used for all 3,012
>     IWEC2 locations.
>
>     For the past decade and a half, researchers around the world have been working to
>     derive solar radiation from weather satellite imagery, driven largely by the needs
>     of the solar power industry for the siting of solar power plants and getting
>     "bankable" solar estimates for their arrays. Our little building energy simulation
>     sector can of course benefit by hanging on the coattails of the solar power
>     industry, but the downside has been to be totally priced out, since the commercial
>     cost for one year's solar data for one location (grid cell) typically runs around
>     $1,000.
>
>     A welcome development over the last five years is that various government offices or
>     affiliated consortia are now beginning to also providing access to satellite-derived
>     solar radiation at minimal or more acceptable costs under various conditions. Over
>     the past three years, WBT has obtained access to such data and permission for its
>     use in WBT weather files.
>     WBT is now either replacing the solar radiation on its historical weather files, or
>     using satellite-derived radiation to develop custom solar coefficients for each
>     location to extend the satellite-derived solar to time periods outside the available
>     time window. With the exception of polar locations above or below 60/66 degrees,
>     island nations in the Pacific and Indian Ocean, and a few unfortunate "blind spots",
>     the entire land mass is being covered with at least 10 years up to 18 years of
>     hourly solar records.
>
>     Starting in 2018, WBT historical weather files in the following areas will all have
>     satellite-derived solar radiation for the following time periods: Europe, Africa,
>     South America east of 66 West, i.e., Brazil and Uruguay (2004 to date), Australia
>     (1999 to date), and East Asia (2007 to date, access pending). WBT historical weather
>     files in the following areas will have satellite-derived solar radiation for the
>     indicated time periods - North America and Central/South American down to 20 South
>     (1998-2015), South Asia (2000-2014), with modeled solar radiation from 2016 on that
>     has been individually tuned to the past satellite-derived solar.
>
>     Another benefit to the satellite-derived solar is to increases the number of
>     available weather stations, which in many places has been limited by the lack of
>     cloud cover data needed to model the solar radiation.  For reasons that are not
>     immediately identifiable, several English-speaking Commonwealth countries has seen a
>     marked drop in the number of available stations due to the decreases in the
>     reporting of cloud cover (see plot, ZAF = South Africa). For example, the number of
>     stations in the UK has dropped by almost 2/3s between 2001 and 2017 (174 to 64), but
>     with satellite-derived solar, it will go back up to over 180, while in Australia and
>     South Africa the comparable numbers are from 175 to well over 500, and from 37 to
>     over 100, respectively.
>
>     eppffpmojkhpmhbo.png
>     If interested, customers who have purchased a historical weather files from WBT over
>     the past five years can get an updated weather file at no cost. Lastly, although it
>     will take at least a month to update all 10,000 2017 files, it's very quick to do
>     for any specific location or even 50 or so locations. Therefore, if you have an
>     urgent request please e-mail me and I will put that at the beginning of the queue
>     for that day.
>
>     -- 
>     Joe Huang
>     White Box Technologies, Inc.
>     346 Rheem Blvd., Suite 205A Moraga CA 94556
>     <https://maps.google.com/?q=346+Rheem+Blvd.,+Suite+205A%0D+Moraga+CA+94556&entry=gmail&source=g>
>     yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com <mailto:yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>
>     http://weather.whiteboxtechnologies.com  for simulation-ready weather data
>     (o)(925)388-0265 <tel:%28925%29%20388-0265>
>     (c)(510)928-2683 <tel:%28510%29%20928-2683>
>     "building energy simulations at your fingertips"
>
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>     Posted by: Joe Huang <yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com
>     <mailto:yjhuang at whiteboxtechnologies.com>>
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