An all-sky solar meteorological radiation model for the United Kingdom

With the proliferation of cheap, high performance desktop computers the building services profession is demanding detailed (hourly or sub-hourly)weather data for simulation, optimum plant sizing and design of buildings which may use passive solar and /or natural ventilation features. Even in a developed country such as the United Kingdom there is a dearth of measured long-term solar radiation and daylight data. Herein, a simple and precise model is presented which enables computation of horizontal beam and diffuse solar radiation to be carried out given four basic meteorological parameters - hourly dry and wet-bulb temperatures, atmosphheric pressure and bright sunshine duration.