Ghana: The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has created a new Koppen-Geiger map to quantify the climatic conditions in South Africa with unique accuracy. These maps are contributing to the design of buildings that are responsive to the specific characteristics of the climate in which they are placed.
Using 20 years of precipitation and temperature data, CSIR researchers developed a Koppen-Geiger climatic classification, which is a significant refinement of the six-zone model of SANS 204-2.
The adoption of the South African Koppen-Geiger map would allow building designers to rapidly identify appropriate climate-responsive design techniques and would facilitate the computational performance modelling of buildings. This would be achieved by applying synthesised approximations of weather data where data are not available.
The CSIR research team believes that, if climate change is expressed in terms of Koppen category changes, it is feasible to predict future building performance characteristics within that particular location and craft buildings with these parameters in mind.
Source: CSIR
