SunPosition
Calculates time series of sun angles (such as solar altitude and solar azimuth) for a given location and outputs them as text files that can be imported into spreadsheets and solar energy analysis programs. Sun Position is highly customizable: you can have it calculate angles for one specific day, once a month for one year, once a week, daily, etc., and in a given day calculate the angles once a day, hourly, every 15 minutes, etc. Its primary purpose is to assist architects and solar designers perform energy analysis calculations. Screen Shots
Keywords
solar angle design, solar altitude, solar design
Validation/Testing
N/A
Expertise Required
None required.
Users
Several dozen regular users in building and alternative energy fields, several hundred occasional users in various fields.
Audience
Architects, passive solar designers, PV and solar thermal energy system designers.
Input
The user inputs the geographical location, the frequency of the data desired, and the output format desired; the program has a graphical user interface.
Output
The output is text files consisting of tables of sun angle data; the specific sun angles, format of the data, etc. is specified by the user.
Computer Platform
Web
Programming Language
Javascript
Strengths
Best for people performing analyses of buildings or solar energy systems over several months or years who need to know solar altitude and azimuth angles for their analysis.
Weaknesses
While SunPosition can compute individual sun angles (i.e. at one specific time instead of throughout the year) it would be more efficient to use the SunAngle calculator for single calculations.
Contact
Company: |
Sustainable By Design |
Address: |
3631 Bagley Avenue North |
Telephone: |
(206) 925-9290 |
Facsimile: |
877-684-0797 |
E-mail: |
|
Website: |
Availability
Available at http://www.susdesign.com/sunposition, distributed as shareware ($10 for personal users, $25 for commercial users).