Most climatologists recognize that climate behaviour is variable and, according to climate models, a change in heat distribution has been taking place since the twentieth century. The mitigation of the effects of climate change is in the public policy agenda of many countries, and research to find ways of adapting to new scenarios is being developed in several fields of knowledge. It is known that the thermal and energy performance of buildings, which are designed for a lifespan of approximately fifty years, is directly related to the climate to which they are exposed. Therefore, the consideration of climate change is essential in the evaluation of the performance of buildings with regards to their energy consumption. This research study aims to investigate the future performance of buildings, through the adoption of a method for preparation of weather files representing future conditions for the city of Vitória, located in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The suitability of the data was tested through performance analysis of a commercial building, simulated with the DesignBuilder software. The capacity of the files to represent future situations was made evident after examination of the output data, which showed an increase in average annual energy consumption of 10.7% for 2020, 17.3% for 2050 and 26.5% for 2080.
Climate change; Energy efficient; Future weather file; Simulation
