[esp-r] Re: Solar Obstructions not working as expected

[Jon Hand (clcv10)]

A recent question about tree shading....

> I have solar obstructions around my model representing trees.   
> However, no matter what height I make them there is no difference  
> in zone temperatures.  Are there common areas mistakes are made  
> that I should be looking into.
>
There are some classic things to check

a) failure to associate the obstructions file with one or more of the
     zones (it has happened that people forget)

b) failure to actually do the shading computations (it has happened)

c) letting shading run silently rather than interatively so that you can
     check that there are not very many of the crossing-the-plane-of- 
surface
     warnings.  In worse cases there are so many exceptions caused by
     the crossing-the-pane stuff that no shading gets calculated

d) failure to use the synopsis reporting when running the shading
     assessment and then viewing the shading patterns on various
    surfaces in the model to confirm shading patterns

e) this is actuallly the first thing to do - use the wireframe view  
from the
     sun facility to check that the obstructions actually shade the
     building at various times of the year.

f) have a look at solar entering the zone with and without the shading
    analyis - there probably should be a difference if the trees are  
having
    an impact.

-ESRU