Datasets on Energy Simulations of Standard and Optimized Buildings under Current and Future Weather Conditions across Europe

Abstract

The building sector has a strategic role in the clean energy transition towards a fully decarbonized stock by mid-century. This data article investigates the use of different weather datasets in building energy simulations across Europe. It focuses on a standard performing building optimized to a nearly-zero level accounting for climate projections towards 2060. The provided data quantify the building energy performance in the current and future scenarios. The article investigates how heating and cooling loads change depending on the location and climate scenario. Hourly weather datasets frequently used in building energy simulations are analyzed to investigate how climatic conditions have changed over recent decades. The data give insight into the implications of the use of weather datasets on buildings in terms of energy consumption, efficiency measures (envelope, appliances, systems), costs, and renewable production. Due to the ongoing changing climate, basing building energy simulations and design optimization on obsolete weather data may produce inaccurate results and related building designs with an increased energy consumption in the coming decades. Energy efficiency will become more crucial in the future when cooling and overheating will have to be controlled with appropriate measures used in combination with renewable energy sources.

Keywords

• building design
• building modeling
• climate change
• energy efficiency
• nearly zero energy buildings (NZEBs)
• renewable energy