Solar Thermal Energy for Net Zero Energy Buildings

Dear Colleagues,

Limited reserves of fossil fuels and their hazardous environmental effects have stimulated both developed and developing countries to recheck their energy policies and to develop clean, eco-friendly, cost-effective, and efficient energy technologies for the energy sector. Sectoral energy consumption analyses indicate that more than 40% of the total world energy use is attributed to the building sector. Further analyses reveal that heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems are responsible for more than 60% of building-oriented energy consumption. In this context, developing renewable-based HVAC systems in buildings is of vital importance towards the concept of Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs). It is also significant to mitigate the energy consumed in the building sector, and corresponding greenhouse gas emissions due to the burning of fossil fuels. Among renewable energy resources, solar energy comes first owing to its unlimited, totally free, and eco-friendly energy content. Over the last fifty years, notably after the energy crisis in 1973, solar energy has been used for different purposes in buildings. In this respect, especially solar thermal and electrical energy systems have shown remarkable progress in terms of efficiency, cost reduction, and application area. Thus, to further spread the technologies and methods related to solar thermal energy systems towards NZEBs, this Special Issue, entitled “Solar Thermal Energy for Net Zero Energy Buildings”, has been proposed for the international journal Energies, which is an SSCI and SCIE journal. This Special Issue mainly covers original research and studies related to the above-mentioned topics, including, but not limited to, solar thermal collectors, concentrating solar collectors, building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal collectors (BIPV/T), solar-assisted heat pumps, passive solar energy technologies, Trombe walls, solar-driven energy storage, waste heat recovery systems, and so on. Papers nominated for this Special Issue are subject to a meticulous peer-review process with the goal of fast and effective dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. Pinar Mert Cuce
Dr. Yahya sheikhnejad
Dr. Erdem Cuce
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• solar thermal collectors
• concentrating solar collectors
• building-integrated photovoltaic/thermal collectors (BIPV/T)
• solar-assisted heat pumps
• passive solar energy technologies
• Trombe walls
• solar-driven energy storage
• waste heat recovery systems
• solar heating and cooling
• solar chimneys