Vol 35 No 8

MEGNUS

Murray Mason
Trevor Kingston

Building Services Software NEWS

Catherine Baker

www.ozemail.com.au/~acadsbsg

ABN 32 065 247 850

acadsbsg@ozemail.com.au

To receive MEGNUS contact Catherine on acadsbsg@ozemail.com.au

Sept 2014
ACADS-BSG
18 High Street
Glen Iris VIC 3146
Tel (03) 9885 6586
Fax (03) 9885 5974

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst and when chemists die, they barium.

EDITORIAL
So Kind at Heart
One afternoon a lawyer was riding in his limousine when he saw two men along the road-side eating grass. Disturbed, he
ordered his driver to stop and got out to investigate.
He asked one man, "Why are you eating grass?" "We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied. "We have to eat
grass." "Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I'll feed you," the lawyer said. "But sir, I have a wife and two
children with me. They are over there, under that tree." "Bring them along." the lawyer replied.
Turning to the other poor man he stated, "You may come with us, also." The second man, in a pitiful voice, then said, "But sir, I
also have a wife and SIX children with me!" "Bring them all as well," the lawyer answered.
They all entered the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limousine was. Once under way, one of the poor
fellows turned to the lawyer and said, "Sir, you are too kind, thank you for taking all of us with you.
The lawyer replied, "Glad to do it. You'll really love my place; the grass is almost a metre high!!"

Climatic Data for Energy Simulations

ACADS-BSG for many years was the custodian of the Australian Climatic Data Bank which contained hourly data files for use
in energy simulation programs. The data comprised a number of individual years and an average TRY year for each location.
Created in the 1980s by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) the TRY years were selected years based purely on
dry bulb temperature.
TRY data is still suitable for the BCA JV3 and GreenStar because these involve the comparison of the proposed building with a
Deemed to Satisfy building using the same climatic data, for other simulations including NABERS where comparisons between
measured (billed) energy and off axis analysis for GreenStar are required, up to date hourly data is required.
The Commonwealth, originally through the Green House Office, undertook the production of more recent data and in 2007
released data based on BOM measured temperature and solar data from 1967 to 2004. This included an average RMY year
based on the preferred science of the 'Sandia method. This method involves the selection and concatenation of 12 indicative
months based on weighted cumulative difference functions (CDFs) for temperature, humidity, wind, and solar inputs. The
weightings are selected to fit the datas use with Type A files suitable for skin dominated buildings like houses and Type C
files suitable for internal load dominated buildings like deep plan offices.
ACADS-BSG was again made the agents for the distribution of these individual and RMY years of data. Unfortunately some
significant errors were discovered in this data and soon after it was released ACADS-BSG withdrew the data from the market.
The Commonwealth originally through DCCEE and then (with the change of Government) the Department of Industry,
arranged for these errors to be corrected and the RMY average years to be re-determined. Data for a few more locations was
also produced.
However ACADS-BSG is no longer the agents for the distribution of this data. RMY climate files for Types A, B and C have
been published for free download on the NatHERS web site through a link at http://www.nathers.gov.au based on data up to
2012. However there are three statements in the section on climate data on the NatHERS website relating to the RMY files:
1. These files are provided for research purposes only and NatHERS assessors cannot currently use these files for regulatory
purposes.
2. The files may not be suitable for uses other than residential building ratings and users should make their own decision
on their suitability for other uses.
3. The data that the files are compiled from is not available and will not be provided even if requested, but can be
purchased from the BOM. Only RMY information is available in these files and no support on how to use them will be
provided.
The statement that the data can be purchased from the BOM is incorrect. The raw data can be purchased, but this raw BOM
data requires a lot of pre-processing and validation not the least of which is aligning the times that the temperature data is
measured (local time) with the time that the solar data is recorded (solar time), validation of the data and in some cases
interpolation from 3 hourly readings. It cost taxpayers a lot of money for the Commonwealth to establish the individual years of
data to enable the RMY data to be generated, and it is appalling that the Commonwealth will not release this data. Their excuse
is that it belongs to the Met Bureau not the Department of Industry

ACADS-BSG is now the agent for Exemplary Energy who market individual years of data derived from BOM measurements
from 1990 to 2012 and A, B and C RMY data developed from these individual years of data using the 'Sandia method'. New
files incorporating the weather in 2013 are now in production. For simulations on non-residential buildings using BEAVER
and other similar programs, RMY type C files and the full 23 years (1990-2012) are available for more novel applications like
off axis simulations for GreenStar and NABERS Commitment Agreements. Contact ACADS-BSG for details and pricing
2011 - IBPSA Building Simulation Conference - Climate Data for Building Optimisation available for free download at
http://www.exemplary.com.au/publications.php

Letters/emails to the Editor

I was recently referred to a paper discussing the homogenization by the Met Bureau of their recorded
temperature data. The paper entitled Modelling Australian and Global Temperatures: Whats Wrong? Bourke and Amberley
as Case Studies and was published in The Sydney Papers Online, Issue 26 following a presentation for the Sydney Institute on
25th June 2014.
The paper discusses the homogenization process employed by the Bureau in compiling the annual statistics from the raw recorded
temperature series. Homogenization refers to a process of changing the actual temperature records using mathematical
algorithms. The Bureau begins with real temperature data which is first truncated with all records before 1910 deleted, then
some of the individual remaining record hot days are scratched or substituted, before temperature series are submitted to a twostep homogenization process involving the application of mathematical algorithms.
The link to the paper is: http://jennifermarohasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Changing_Temperature_Data.pdf

Program News
CAMEL A suggestion has been made by one of our CAMEL users for an additional table in the results
gathering all the relevant information to make it as simple as possible to carry out checks for any major
problems with the run. The suggested content for this table is as shown below with typical values for a run with
a multi-zone VAV system. If anyone has any comments or suggestions they would be appreciated
Floor

COOLING

SUPPLY AIR

OUTSIDE AIR

AHU

Zone

Area

GTH

GTH

Room Adj

Room

No.

No.

m2

kW

w/m2

Sens kW

W/m2

L/s

L/s/m2

l/s

3998

56.4

122

45.9

99

3998

8.7

347

HEATING

l/s

l/s/m2

/person

of S.Air

kW

0.087

6.9

8.5

21.8

S.Air
No. of

Lvg.

W/m2

People

Temp

47

50.2

14.4

RA

50

2.99

66

21.2

321

1843

27.9

160

2.424

24.2

8.5

9.76

111

6.6

54

8.9

165

775

14.3

67

1.241

12.4

8.5

3.77

51

5.4

54

14.7

271

1276

23.6

111

2.056

20.6

8.5

4.6

54

5.4

288

12.4

43

1080

3.7

94

0.326

3.3

8.5

2.47

0.64

28.8

CURRENT & COMING BSG & RELATED EVENTS

Brisbane: Mon, Tues, Wed September 9, 10, 11, Workshop on program HYENA , CAMEL and BEAVER.
Shanghai China: Wed, Thurs, October 16th & 17th Workshop on program SPRINK & ASPRINK
October or November: Possible 3 day workshop on PHOENICS. David Glyn from CHAM in the UK will be
running a workshop on PHOENICS during September in Singapore and if there is enough interest, we are
considering inviting him to run a course in Australia. This will be an opportunity not to miss as it is not often that we have
people with the expertise that David has visit us down under. If you are interested in attending, please let Catherine know and
we will place you on the mailing list for further information as it comes to hand.
If you are interested in attending any of these workshops or a workshop on any of our programs in other locations,
contact Catherine on 613 9885 6586 or email acadsbsg@ozemail.com.au to be included on the mailing list for notification.

MEGNUS GAMES
Answer to Last Months Game - Mystery Numbers
A = 6, B = 3 and C = 12 such that the rows, columns and diagonals all add to 45
In the middle column, 21+15+9 = 45. Knowing this A, B and C can be determined.
In the Star the ? = 308, the product of the three numbers in each of the large triangles
Odd One Out
Which of the 5 sets of three shapes to the right is the odd one out? There are 2 answers to this
problem. The first is column 2 where there are three shapes that are the same 3 squares. The
second answer is a little more difficult.
The version numbers and release dates of the ACADS-BSG programs are:
CAMEL 5.10.5 Oct 13

KOALA 5.00.0 Nov 12

BEAVER 7.11.0 Oct 13

DONKEY 4.60.4AJun 12 DOLPHIN 1.00.3 Feb 13

HYENA 6.10.2 Feb 12

AutoHYENA 4.00.3 Jun 12

SPRINK 1.00.2A June 12 ASPRINK 4.00.3 Jun12

PYTHON 2.00.0 July 07

LLAMA 3.00.3 Dec 04

WOMBAT 2.00.3 Jun 05

PHOENICS 2012 April 13