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Climatic zoning for building energy efficiency applications is an important element in building energy policy and regulations. There are several methodologies available to conduct climatic zoning, providing significantly different results. Currently, there are no procedures to assess the validity of a proposed climatic zoning, hindering the decision to use one particular climatic zoning methodology instead of another. This paper introduces a quality index and a procedure to support the validation of climatic zoning. The procedure is based on building performance simulation results concerning the building stock that is targeted in the climatic zoning policy or program. Simulation results are used to calculate a new index, the Mean Percentage of Misclassified Areas (MPMA), which assesses the quality of the zoning under analysis. The capabilities of this procedure were demonstrated by the evaluation of four alternatives for the climatic zoning of Nicaragua, obtained using different methodologies and previously reported in the literature. The building stock used in this case study is composed of a few archetypes based on typical naturally ventilated dwellings in this country. Simulations were conducted using the program EnergyPlus for a total of 328 locations in Nicaragua. Degree-hours of discomfort based on the adaptive model of ASHRAE Standard 55 were used as a performance indicator. Results indicate that zoning obtained using cluster analysis and cooling degree-days may misclassify 1 out of 5 areas in Nicaragua (MPMA around 18–20%). This study concludes that the validation procedure and proposed index are useful for highlighting qualities and deficiencies of existing climatic zoning methods, particularly when these methods are used in less conventional applications, such as for policy making targeting naturally ventilated dwellings in tropical climates. The application of this procedure in more than 50 countries which adopt climatic zoning is foreseen as the next step in his area, substantially affecting the prescription of building materials and components worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic zoning for building energy efficiency applications is a key element in many programs and policies to improve thermal performance of buildings. In spite of its importance, there is no consensus about the appropriate methodology for climatic zoning. Previous studies indicate a large variety of methods and parameters are currently used for climatic zoning: degree-days, cluster analysis and administrative divisions are some of the most widely used. This study reports and reviews results obtained with these three methodologies for Nicaragua, a small country in Latin America. Results indicate a high level of agreement between the different methodologies, but they also disagree on the appropriate classification of a significant proportion of the country (37% of Nicaragua’s territory). The three methodologies have strengths and weaknesses, and at present it is impossible to conclude which one is the most appropriate to support building energy efficiency programs and policies. Results of this paper highlight the need for procedures and performance indicators to assess the validity of climatic zoning (which shall be addressed by future studies). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]