The objective of this paper is to present validated mathematical models for estimation of hourly and daily solar irradiation on surfaces of arbitrary orientation and tilt from irradiation on a horizontal plane. Daily irradiation on a surface may still be estimated even if only the hours of sunshine are known. To do this regression equations have been established to estimate the hourly or daily diffuse irradiation, given the corresponding horizontal global irradiation.

In building design the ability to predict the effects of daylight is of increasing importance. Daylight can be an important factor in building energy efficiency; in some buildings lighting may account for half the energy cost. This paper describes the weather data that are available for daylight prediction.  First of all the requirements for data are evaluated. For many energy applications, the key quantity is the percentage of the working year a given design illuminance is exceeded by daylight.

This paper summarises the work of the CIBSE Example Year Task Group. Its main task has been to develop a methodology for the selection of representative weather data. This data is required as input to the various procedures available for the estimation of the energy performance of buildings and their engineering systems. As a further aid to applying a consistent set of meteorological data as input to energy calculations, the Task Group's work has extended to the preparation of a set of algorithms for calculating psychrometric properties