Climate data is vital to the design, development, construction, and impacts of many sustainability projects, especially in renewable energy, rainwater catchment, landscape design, and natural building. This page is intended to list best sources for various data.
Precipitation[edit | edit source]
A deep breakdown of various precipitation data sets is listed at https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/precipitation-data-sets-overview-comparison-table.
- https://water.weather.gov/precip/download.php
- https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/search?datasetid=PRECIP_HLY#
- https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/u-s-hourly-precipitation-data
- https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/climate-data/gpcc-global-precipitation-climatology-centre
Precipitation frequency[edit | edit source]
Solar insolation[edit | edit source]
Insolation, now commonly referred to as irradiation (and also known as peak sun hours), differs from irradiance because of the inclusion of time. Insolation is the amount of solar energy received on a given area over time measured in kilowatt-hours per meter squared. Insolation measured in kWh/m2/day is the equivalent to "peak sun hours" (which is in units of hours/day of full sun power). Peak sun hours is defined as the equivalent number of hours per day, with solar irradiance equaling 1,000W/m2. This 1,000W/m2 is defined as the full sun power. Peak sun hours only make sense because PV panel power output is rated with a radiation level of 1,000 W/m2.
