A data base for European climatic data for energy potentials and mapping

This scientific paper – presented at the session SS 41 “Weather & Microclimate” during the CLIMA 2016 Congress in Aalborg (Denmark) – summarizes the results of one the Cheap-GSHPs project tasks.

Aim of this task is the definition of a ”data base for European climatic data for energy potentials and mapping”. Indeed, climatic data are very important for determining the buildings heating and cooling loads. At the same time they are the basic for determining the ground temperature in the different locations, as well as for determining the potential of using geothermal energy. For promoting the diffusion of GSHP (Ground Source Heat Pumps) a tool for sizing these systems is going to be developed. The paper presents the set up of a consistent database of weather conditions for this tool. This database will allow both expert and non-expert users to identify the climate category mostly similar to the studied location, as well as to estimate the potential energy demand for heating and cooling required by the building. For this purpose, the user will be able to select among different data sets (Test Reference Year for more than 300 locations; calculated degree-days for heating and cooling; Köppen-Geiger climate classification) or even introduce climate data by himself. Moreover, the tool will be implemented with an algorithm, mainly based on the lapse rates method, in order to predict monthly temperature values at unknown locations by using information of a nearby station and the altitude difference between the predictor station and prediction location.