Brazil - Future weather files for building energy simulation

This dataset contains future weather files for energy simulation of buildings of the state capitals of Brazil plus the Federal District. The weather data is provided in EPW format, commonly used in EnergyPlus inputs. The periods of 2010, 2050, and 2090 are considered for generating the Typical Meteorological Years (TMY) for each location. Additionally, different climate model projections were used to enable an analysis of uncertainties in the simulation results. In this updated version, we have included the complete individual years used to develop the TMYs. This data is provided in CSV format and has been bias-corrected.

The future climate data was derived from various regional climate model projections from the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) project. These projections are part of the CORDEX-CORE experiment, which includes three GCMs (HadGEM2, MPI-ESM, and NorESM1) as driving models, and two nested RCMs (regcm and remo) for dynamical downscaling, totaling an ensemble of six members at a spatial resolution of approximately 25km. The representative concentration pathways RCP 8.5 and RCP 2.6 were the available scenarios for the region, and both were considered for developing the weather files. The future climatic variable values were interpolated and formatted to an hourly resolution, commonly used in building energy simulation tools. Subsequently, different bias correction methods were applied to specific climate variables based on historical weather series. These data series consist of hourly data measured at weather stations located in each city between the years 2001 and 2021. The historical series files were made available by Dru Crawley and Linda Lawrie and served as the basis for developing the TMYx weather files available on the OneClimate Building website.

It is crucial to recognize that the historical data is based on measurements taken at airports, which are often situated far from urban centers. As a result, urban overheating was not factored into these developed weather files. It is also important to note that the developed weather files represent a typical meteorological year for each period, and do not include the most extreme periods, such as heatwaves and atypical summers.

The weather files were developed specifically for use with the EnergyPlus engine. Therefore, climatic variables not used by the engine (e.g., precipitation and ceiling height), even if available in EPW format, should not be considered for other studies.

It is important to emphasize the higher internal operative temperature results obtained when using the REGCM model compared to the REMO model in Building Energy Simulations. Caution is recommended when using files developed using a single combination of climate models, especially with weather files based on the REGCM model.

Suggestions for corrections can be sent to [e-mail]