Buildings are designed for a specific climate yet they often have a lifetime
of 100 years. Climate change may require a building to operate over a range of
climatic conditions as a result of the impact of global warming. This effect is
compounded by the fact that much of the climatic data currently used for design
purposes is some 30 years old. This paper investigates the impact that climate change
over the last two decades may have on the design and performance of buildings by
examining the specific impact that changes in temperature and solar radiation have
had on one particular design variable, energy use. The results indicate that the
temperature and solar radiation in the London region of the UK has changed
significantly in the last 15 years and that the climatic data currently being used for
energy design calculations leads to inaccuracies in predictions of energy use. It is
concluded that the climatic data used in these calculations should be urgently
reviewed as it may be leading designers to adopt solutions which will be inappropriate
for future use.