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Building Environment Energy Conservation
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Building Environment Energy Conservation

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Energy Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 4596

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Farzad Jalaei

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Construction Research Center, National Research Council Canada, Government of Canada, 1200 Montreal Road, M-20, Ottawa, ON K1A 0R6, Canada
Interests: sustainable design and construction; construction 4.0; automation in construction; building information modeling (BIM); life cycle assessment (LCA); embodied carbon in construction; life cycle cost (LCC); green building rating systems; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to invite you to submit your latest research contributions to the Special Issue on “Building Environment Energy Conservation” in the Journal of Sustainability. This Special Issue calls for original/ review papers around innovative methodologies, technologies, and best practices pertinent to environment and energy conservation in the built environment, and specifically in buildings.

Buildings are responsible for over one-third of the world’s total energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and therefore have a critical role to play in the global drive for sustainable development. Various initiatives are being implemented to reduce the release of GHGs into the atmosphere, relying on the evaluation, tracking, recording and verification of GHG emissions and removals. The annual accounting of GHG flows associated with buildings should be conducted in a lifecycle context to ensure that policies are effective at mitigating climate change. The Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry has recognized the urgent need for strong action to address environment and energy conservation practices to substantially reduce GHG emissions. Energy conservation in buildings requires using energy-saving building materials in the design and construction of buildings, improving building insulation and sealing performance and enhancing the efficiency of heating systems to reduce energy consumption. Energy can be conserved by reducing losses, improving efficiency through technological upgrades, as well as improved operation and maintenance. A comprehensive approach could also be taken to fully understand and address GHG emissions by considering the complete life cycle, including embodied and operational carbon as well as the carbon released at the end of the useful life of the building. 

This Special Issue aims to cover the broader scope of environment and energy conservation in buildings, with a particular focus on (but not limited to) the following topics:

  • Energy conservation in buildings;
  • Energy saving technologies;
  • Energy auditing and monitoring;
  • Energy storage technologies and applications in buildings;
  • Renewable energy applications in buildings;
  • Low carbon/net-zero energy buildings;
  • Life cycle (energy) assessment and carbon footprinting;
  • Occupant behavior and comfort in zero energy buildings;
  • Smart/sustainable and green buildings;
  • Cyber physical systems (construction 4.0) applications to perform/visualize energy simulations and to acquire building control suggestions for energy conservation.

Papers on these topics can have a diverse scope (i.e., scientific advancement and technology innovation, methodology development and implementation, industrial/commercial practices, and case studies).

Dr. Farzad Jalaei
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.

Keywords

  • environment energy conservation
  • energy performance
  • environmental performance
  • GHG
  • zero energy buildings
  • sustainable buildings
  • occupant comfort
  • LCA/ LCC
  • construction 4.0

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 3488 KiB  
Article
Design, Development, and Characterization of Highly Efficient Colored Photovoltaic Module for Sustainable Buildings Applications
by Mohammad Khairul Basher, Mohammad Nur-E-Alam, Md Momtazur Rahman, Steven Hinckley and Kamal Alameh
Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4278; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14074278 - 04 Apr 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2142
Abstract
The building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system is one of the contributors which has enormous potential to reach the goal of net-zero energy buildings (NZEB) that significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. However, the limitations of the visual [...] Read more.
The building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system is one of the contributors which has enormous potential to reach the goal of net-zero energy buildings (NZEB) that significantly reduce the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. However, the limitations of the visual and aesthetic appearance of current BIPV systems make this aspiration unlikely. This study investigates the limitations of the single-color-based PV modules that are dull in appearance and have low photo-conversion efficiency (PCE). In order to solve this issue, we designed, developed, and characterized micro-patterned-based multicolored photovoltaic (MPCPV) modules which are applicable to net-zero building and development. Our newly developed MPCPV module exhibits an aesthetically attractive and flexible building color suitable for industrial application. Furthermore, the MPCPV module possesses an efficiency of 9.6%, which is 4.1% higher than a single-color PV module (5.5%) but closer to conventional thin-film PV modules. In addition, the other output parameters, such as short-circuit current (Isc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), maximum power (Pmax), and fill factor (FF), indicate that our developed colored PV module is suitable for modern infrastructures that will enable energy generation on-site without compromising the aesthetic appearance. Finally, this research will have a substantial influence on the NZEB and will play an important part in the development of a sustainable environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Environment Energy Conservation)
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22 pages, 17847 KiB  
Article
Development of an Electrical Energy Consumption Model for Malaysian Households, Based on Techno-Socioeconomic Determinant Factors
by Boni Sena, Sheikh Ahmad Zaki, Hom Bahadur Rijal, Jorge Alfredo Ardila-Rey, Nelidya Md Yusoff, Fitri Yakub, Farah Liana and Mohamad Zaki Hassan
Sustainability 2021, 13(23), 13258; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132313258 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1655
Abstract
Energy-saving strategies are required to address the increasing global CO2 and electrical energy consumption problems. Therefore, the determinant factors of electrical energy consumption consist of socio-demographic changes, occupant behavior, house and appliance characteristics, or so-called techno-socioeconomic factors, which all need to be [...] Read more.
Energy-saving strategies are required to address the increasing global CO2 and electrical energy consumption problems. Therefore, the determinant factors of electrical energy consumption consist of socio-demographic changes, occupant behavior, house and appliance characteristics, or so-called techno-socioeconomic factors, which all need to be assessed. Statistics models, such as the artificial neural network (ANN), can investigate the relationship among those factors. However, the previous ANN model only used limited factors and was conducted in the developed countries of subtropical regions with different determinant factors than those in the developing countries of tropical regions. Furthermore, the previous studies did not investigate the various impacts of techno-socioeconomic factors concerning the performance of the ANN model in estimating monthly electrical energy consumption. The current study develops a model with a more-in depth architecture by examining the effect of additional factors such as socio-demographics, house characteristics, occupant behavior, and appliance characteristics that have not been investigated concerning the model performance. Thus, a questionnaire survey was conducted from November 2017 to January 2018 with 214 university students. The best combination factors in explaining the monthly electrical energy consumption were developed from occupant behavior, with 81% of the variance and a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 20.6%, which can be classified as a reasonably accurate model. The current study’s findings could be used as additional information for occupants or for companies who want to install photovoltaic or wind energy systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Environment Energy Conservation)
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