Dear Colleagues,

The Special Issue entitled "Phase Change Materials and Building Systems Dynamics" aims to provide an integrated approach to the interactions and modeling between phase change materials embedded in the passive and active engineering systems dynamics of the built environment towards economic growth decoupling from resource depletion and environmental degradation in different levels.

This Special Issue belongs to the Section "Sustainable Materials".

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Dear Colleagues,

Phase change materials and their integration in the built environment, both in passive and active systems, are one of the promising methods to provide latent storage towards peak load reduction and/or energy savings optimization. Since engineering systems interact with their environment, knowledge of their impacts is always of utmost importance toward the transition to sustainable living. The linkage between the sustainable life circles of phase change materials and the optimal modeling of interaction dynamics, the cost-effectiveness, and the strategic mechanisms to support the guidance of the framework of the system are of paramount interest, especially in recent years that technosphere and ecosphere boundaries urgently require a balance. In addition, many efforts are directed on, as well as debating, decoupling economic growth from resource depletion and environmental degradation at different levels. Within this context, phase change materials and systems dynamic interactions seem to be crucial substances for comprehension in the light of challenging issues, which are still unsolved. Synergies with established tools and standards and efficient symbiosis taking into account the dynamics and hidden potential provide a deeper insight, due to materials’ impact on the whole economic and social life of human activities, the built environment, the production and consumption systems, and the supply chain procedures, to name some.

The Special Issue seeks to identify contributions referring to design and modeling of latent storage systems, the quality of phase change materials and system dynamics interactions, business and management model deployment, phase change materials and energy stock and flows in ecological processes, the functionality and optimal operation research modeling, nature-inspired design and biomimicry, decision-making processes, and indirect metamaterials analysis effects. Best practices and case studies are also welcome.

Dr. Vasileios C. Kapsalis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

• phase change materials
• indirect metamaterials effect
• sustainable integration
• toxicity impacts
• industrial ecology
• ecosystems and biomimicry design
• optimal modeling
• system dynamics
• decision-making methods
• investment quality