• Home
• About the Directory
• Tools by Subject
  • Whole Building Analysis
  • Codes & Standards
  • Materials, Components, Equipment, & Systems
  • Other Applications
    • Atmospheric Pollution
    • Energy Economics
    • Indoor Air Quality
    • Multibuilding Facilities
    • Solar/Climate Analysis
    • Training
    • Utility Evaluation
    • Validation Tools
    • Ventilation/Airflow
    • Water Conservation
    • Miscellaneous Applications
• Tools Listed Alphabetically
• Tools by Platform
• Tools by Country
• Related Links

Climate Consultant

Free, easy-to-use, graphic-based computer program that displays climate data in dozens of ways useful to architects, builders, contractors, and homeowners, including temperatures, humidity, wind velocity, sky cover, and solar radiation in both 2-D and 3-D graphics for every hour of the year in either Metric or Imperial units. Climate Consultant 3.0 also plots sun dials and sun shading charts overlaid with the hours when solar heating is needed or when shading is required. The psychrometric chart analysis shows the most appropriate passive design strategies in each climate, while the new wind wheel integrates wind velocity and direction data with concurrent temperatures and humidities and can be animated hourly, daily, or monthly. Because energy codes require slightly different types of buildings in each climate zones, it is important for people who are designing, constructing, or maintaining these buildings to understand the unique attributes of their climate and how it impacts their building’s energy consumption. Climate Consultant 3.0 reads climate data in the EPW format that the Department of Energy makes available at no cost (in fact there are more than 1300 stations from around the world available in this format). Screen Shots

Keywords

climate analysis, psychrometric chart, bioclimatic chartm wind wheel

Validation/Testing

N/A

Expertise Required

Intended to be self instructional; requires only basic familiarity with computers, climate terms, and architectural vocabulary.

Users

Over tens thousand copies of the earlier version of Climate Consultant have been downloaded; it is known to be used in many schools of architecture and hundreds of architectural firms.

Audience

Builders, homeowners, architects, and students of architecture

Input

Climate data in EnergyPlus/ESP-r Weather (EPW) format

Output

Graphic plots of weather data.

Computer Platform

PCs (Windows 98 and above) and Mac (OS and above)

Programming Language

Java

Strengths

Highly graphic, user-friendly.

Weaknesses

Requires weather data in EPW weather data format.

Contact

Company:	UCLA Department of Architecture and Urban Design
Address:	Perloff Hall B302 University of California at Los Angeles Los Angeles, California 90095 United States
Telephone:	+1 (310) 825-7328
E-mail:	climateconsultant@aud.ucla.edu
Website:	http://www.aud.ucla.edu/energy-design-tools

Availability

Download Climate Consultant at no charge from the web site.