Heating degree day
figure describing the annual heating requirement in different localities

Heating degree day (HDD) is a measurement designed to quantify the demand for energy needed to heat a building. HDD is derived from measurements of outside air temperature. The estimated average heating energy requirements for a given building at a specific location are considered to be directly proportional to the number of HDD at that location.
Related measurements include the cooling degree day (CDD), which quantifies energy demand for air conditioning.
Definition
Heating degree days are defined relative to a base temperature—the outside temperature above which a building needs no heating. Base temperatures may be defined for a particular building as a function of the temperature that the building is heated to, or it may be defined for a country or region for example. In the latter case, building standards or conventions may exist for the temperature threshold. These include:
The base temperature does not necessarily correspond to the building mean internal temperature, as standards may consider mean building insulation levels and internal gains to determine an average external temperature at which heating will be required. Base temperatures of 16 °C and 19 °C (61, 66 °F) are also used. The variation in choice of base temperature implies that HDD values cannot always be compared – care must be taken to ensure that only HDDs with equal base temperatures are compared.
“Heating degree day” enters the record as figure describing the annual heating requirement in different localities. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Heating, degree and figure can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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