Science Centres: Energy

Towards energy-efficient buildings

Climate datasets provide essential information for designing more energy-efficient buildings, making the most of passive solar energy, positioning of photovoltaic panels, and even designing other micro-generation options (such as household-scale wind turbines).

NIWA recently completed a dataset of a 'typical meteorological year' for the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority. These synthetic data are created by constructing a typical January, typical February, and so on, for New Zealand regions. Such data can be used to evaluate the performance throughout the year of energy-efficient devices and housing. They form part of the new standard for estimating the performance of solar water heaters (contained in AS/NZS 3500.4).

NIWA is also contributing to a study by BRANZ of the built environment's vulnerability to climate change. As part of this project, we will be providing a 'typical meteorological year' time series, suitably adjusted for the future, for BRANZ to calculate housing heating and cooling requirements.