
Notes for incorporating an EPW climate into esp-r with full attribution
of periods in the `climatelist` file.

Esp-r can associate a number of criteria with climate data in order
to support routine scaling of typical periods to longer term
predictions.
Such information is held in the climatelist file which is scanned by
the climate module as well as the project manager. Such information
is used in the creation of integrated performance views.

While the climate module is able to derive a number of the
scaling criteria, the user is tasked with interpreting the
reports generated by the climate module and incorporating this
information into the climatelist file.

The steps required are as follows:

a) Download an EPW file from the DoE web site, extract the
   climate file.

b) Follow the instructions in Readme_IWEC for editing the
   raw EPW file so that it can be scanned by the climate
   module.

c) Using the climate module, create a new (blank) esp-r
   binary climate file and then import the edited EPW
   file.

d) If you want January 1 to coincide with a Monday, change
   the date to 2000.

e) At this point you have an esp-r version of the EPW
   data and this binary file can be copied to /usr/esru/esp-r/climate
   (or where ever climate files are placed on your computer).

e) In a text editor open up a copy of the climatelist file,
   copy one of the existing entries and edit the *dbfl
   field to point to the location of the binary file. Edit
   the *name field so that the new climate will be included
   in the list. Edit the *aide with a short description. 

f) There is a documentation section for each item in the
   the climate list (marked by *help_start and *help_end).
   Typically monthly statistics are included in this section,
   but it can be any text that would assist a user to quickly
   scan for a relevant climate file. This can be generated by
   invoking the climate module in text mode and requesting
   a summary table and cutting and pasting the report
   into the climatelist file.

g) Review the climate data and decide on the dates which
   represent each of the following seasons (for the northern
   hemisphere): 1st winter, spring, summer, autumn, 2nd winter.
   One technique is to look at weekly heating and cooling
   degree days as well as weekly temperature statistics.

   The line in the climatelist file starting with *winter_s
   holds 8 numbers, the first four relate to the 1st winter
   season and the last four the 2nd winter season. The numbers
   are the start day and start month and end day and end
   month.

   The line in the climatelist file starting with *spring_s
   follows a similar pattern regarding the spring and autumn
   seasons.

   The *summer_s line has four numbers related to the summer
   season.

   In the southern hemisphere there would be two summers in
   place of the two winter seasons.

   After the season lines have been edited, save the climatelist
   file and copy it to the standard location (/usr/esru/esp-r/climate)
   and restart the climate module (so that the season is
   known).

h) The climate module includes a facility to scan a
   climate file for the best fit week in each season
   based on heating and cooling degree days and solar
   radiation. These weekly criteria can be weighted and the
   report generated indicates the week with the least
   difference with the seasonal average of heating
   and cooling degree days and solar radiation. After
   generating the best-fit report in the climate module
   edit the data fields for *winter_t (8 numbers),
   *spring_t (8 numbers) and *summer_t (4 numbers).

   Although the climate module only reports best-fit
   weeks, the climatelist format can hold typical
   periods of other durations. The details in the 
   weekly best-fit report could be differently
   aggregated for typical periods of a fortnight
   or longer.

i) When the typical periods lines have been added to
   the climatelist, save the climate list file into
   the standard location. As a final step, if the
   new climate data is to become part of a standard
   distribution, export an ascii version of the
   climate file and place it in the source distribution
   and update the Install script to create a binary
   version of the climate file.

j) If you have updated the climatelist file and the
   Install script, consider "contributing" this to
   the ESP-r community.

k) With the new climatelist installed, users will be
   presented with this new climate file and will be
   able to select a season or typical week to view
   or use as an assessment period. Those who are creating
   an integrated performance view can use the project
   manager to determine scaling factors for heating,
   cooling, lights, small power etc. between a
   short assessment and a season and/or year.
