Europe's buildings are designed for a climate that no longer exists—new open dataset offers a fix
The weather files engineers use to design buildings are built from decades of historical measurements. The data can be more than 30 years old. But a building designed today is expected to perform well in 2080, and ideally beyond. Researchers from Norway and Portugal have now released future meteorological data covering more than 5,000 European locations. The files are reliable projections of…
A new open dataset has been released that offers future climate projections for over 5,000 European locations, addressing the outdated weather files used in building design. Engineers rely on historical weather data, which can be up to 30 years old, to design buildings for conditions that may not exist by the time the structures are in use.
Researchers from Norway and Portugal have developed future weather files, called Future Meteorological Years (FMYs), that incorporate climate change projections. These FMYs are generated using selected, reliable climate models and can be used directly in existing simulation software. The dataset is freely available at climatedataforbuildings.eu and is consistent with a recently released set of traditional Meteorological Years (TMYs).
The research highlights uneven temperature increases across Europe, with pronounced winter warming in northern areas affecting heating energy demand estimates.
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