The provenances of your simulation data

This paper proposes a set of principles for an international database of building materials that would meet Quality Criteria for use in building performance simulation. The proposal draws inspiration from the International Glazing Data Base, but suggests that this inspiration goes as far as the quality assurance goal, not the practice. Rather than propose new means of storage of existing information, or new means of guaranteeing the quality of that data, it proposes instead that all data used in simulation should have an associated quality score based upon the quality of the tests used to derive the data; the quality of the testing laboratory; and the reliability of the error estimates. It includes examples of how this form of Meta-Data might be included into a range of different Building Performance Simulation Packages, and how a commercial building product search engine might deliver the quality score as well as the data.