New air conditioning design temperatures for Queensland, Australia

This paper presents results of a detailed analysis of meteorological data to determine air conditioning design temperatures dry bulb and wet bulb for hundreds of locations throughout Queensland, using the tenth-highest daily maximum observed per year. This is a modification of the AIRAH 1997 method that uses only 3:00pm records of temperature. In this paper we ask the reader to consider Australian Bureau of Meteorology official “climate summaries” as a benchmark upon which to compare various previously published comfort design temperatures, as well as the new design temperatures proposed in the present paper. We see some possible signals from climate change, but firstly we should apply all available historical data to establish outdoor design temperatures that will ensure that cooling plant are correctly sized in the near future. In a case-studies of Brisbane, we find that inner city temperatures are rising, that airport temperatures are not, and that suburban variability is substantially important