Daylight/Wind Path Analysis

Hi Caitie, if you’re just looking for weather file visualization, this is a free new-ish tool to the scene: https://clima.cbe.berkeley.edu/ Pros: Better graphics than climate consultant, and they can export to .svg so you can manipulate the graphics in Illustrator really easily. Customizable wind rose like climate consultant. Cons: No IP units conversion feature (yet – they say they’re working on it), the sunpath doesn’t convert to stereographic projection (but Andrew Marsh’s tool can) I’m finding this to be a good tool when you’re just ‘gathering the facts’ to stand in for Climate Consultant – but other tools are needed to get into ‘site specific’ shadow studies, etc. Gwen Fuertes, AIA, LEED AP BD+C C: 401-369-2170 From: Caitie Vanhauer <

Hi all, We are also looking for some more site-specific climate tools. We typically use EPW files for projects located near the larger cities/airports but find those are often not always representative of sites that are far from the weather station or at very different elevations/ecoregions like in the mountains. Has anyone else found good tools for site-specific local data? Wind has been challenging to find. Also, is it possible to create psychrometric charts without EPW data?   Here are some of the tools we use now (many are similar to you, Gwen!) :   Windfinder – great for local live wind data and historic - Windfinder - Wind map, wind forecast & weather reports. If you go to the stats page once you pick a station you can see the historic wind data - Wind & weather statistics Pineview Reservoir - Windfinder NOAA NOWdata - Climate (weather.gov) – Great for local temperatures, HDD/CDD, Precipitation, and snowfall. Autodesk Insight for Revit. If you create a simple energy model and go to the web interface, you can see local wind and temp data. Climate Studio for Rhino – has some good climate analysis visual tools for sun and wind. They pull from EPW files and don't have local data. Ecoregion Map –My favorite app for understanding the ecoregion of a project. I will usually use the WWF site to read about it or another online search.   Best, 

Hello, We like to use Climate Studio plug in for Rhino. Its provides great wind rose that can be filtered based on time of year, strength of wind, temperature, etc. We use the impact of wind in different seasons and temperatures to help shift and orient buildings to ensure travel from building to building or residential zones to commerical buildings is considered.   Best, Nick  

Most recently I have been using the Center for the Built Environment's Clima Tool. Easy to use and has some great graphics. https://clima.cbe.berkeley.edu/