ASHRAE Journal - February 2021 - 6

INDUSTRY NEWS
ASHRAE Handbook Preview

More Stations in Update
Of Climate Design Data
The 2021 update to the " Climatic Design
Information " chapter of the ASHRAE Handbook-
Fundamentals includes climate data from more than
1,100 more climate stations than the 2017 chapter. The
2021 Handbook chapter includes data from 9,237 stations throughout the world, including a new location
in Lagos, Nigeria.
Updated every four years, the chapter is updated with
recent, reliable climate data to help building professionals size and design building components. The Handbook
chapter also contributes to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 169,
Climatic Data for Building Design Standards.
Michael Roth, Ph.D., P.Eng., Member ASHRAE, vice
chair of TC 4.2, Climatic Information, discusses the
chapter's updated information.

in many locations, we have recorded rapid changes.
Where these changes are deemed statistically signiﬁcant, we now report the decadal trends for some of the
key design elements.
As in previous editions, we look forward to hearing
how designers are using this information and anticipate
evolving the reporting in the next edition based on this
feedback.

What are your recommended best practices for how
design engineers can better use this data?
In TC 4.2, we typically turn this question back on the
designers. We are very receptive to hearing how design
engineers use the data, how it feeds into their workﬂows, and more importantly what is missing. So, we ask
" How can we do better? "

Why is the updated climatic data important?
There are many reasons, but beyond algorithmic
improvements and more reported design conditions, we have more stations. The 2017 chapter saw
the publication of 8,118 stations. This update will see
that number rise to 9,237 stations. This means we
now have design conditions in new locations such as
Lagos, Nigeria, which is home to 21 million people.

Were there any changes in the data this time?
This update sees the development of a web interface
into the climatic data for the ASHRAE membership,
which allows ASHRAE members to select a weather station via a map and download the design conditions and
visualization/analysis tools-all through a few clicks. We
will be reporting more information on this development
this year.

Were there any changes in the methodology?
This edition sees the introduction of historical trends.
Our climatic data is processed and published based on
the average conditions over the past 25 years. However,
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What lessons can an engineer take away from this
research?
Globally there continues to be a persistent trend
toward warming. This warming causes a knock-on
effect: heating and cooling degree days decrease and
rise, respectively, leading to changes in the classiﬁcation
of climate zones, resulting in code changes, and ending
in building and equipment design adaption. I encourage every engineer to read the forthcoming Handbook
chapter on climate change.

Were there any surprises or unforeseen challenges for
you when preparing this research?
After more than 20 years of wrangling climate data, I
continue to be surprised at the various clever ways that
climatic data can go bad. Whether it is unit conversions, equipment failing when too hot or too cold or
missing data, the list is endless. It is a recommendation of this research that we revisit and improve our
procedures for dealing with erroneous data for the
2025 update.

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ASHRAE Journal - February 2021

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