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Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (22 March 2022) | Viewed by 21238

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Elie Azar

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Guest Editor

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi 127788, United Arab Emirates
Interests: building science; energy efficiency; occupant behavior; building performance simulation (BPS); agent-based modeling (ABM)

Dr. Mounir El Asmar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
Interests: sustainable construction; innovative project delivery; decision-making for the built environment

Special Issue Information

The building sector is a major contributor to global energy consumption levels and carbon footprints and is currently at an important crossroads. With population growth, climate change, and multiple other stressors, buildings are expected to play a crucial role in providing people with comfortable and healthy indoor environments, while at the same time not compromising energy resources and security. As a result, significant research and development efforts are being undertaken to promote the sustainable use of energy at different stages of the building life cycle, including (i) planning, (ii) design and retrofit, (iii) construction, (iv) operation and maintenance, and (v) end-of-life. Interdisciplinary efforts are also being increasingly deployed to integrate information flows across the above stages, given their interdependence and combined impact on the life-cycle performance of facilities.

This Special Issue of Sustainability is inviting papers that explore energy efficiency at one or more stage(s) of the building life cycle. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

Planning, design, and retrofit: passive design strategies, low-energy systems, robust and resilient design, occupant-centric design, green building rating systems, etc.;
Construction: lean construction methods, automation, alternative project delivery methods, sustainable construction materials, prefabrication, energy-efficient equipment, etc.;
Operation and maintenance: occupant-centric controls, fault detection and diagnostics, preventive maintenance, continuous commissioning, etc.;
End-of-life: circular built environments; reducing, reusing, and recycling materials; etc.

We invite papers that present new ideas, concepts, models, methods, tools, standards, and applications. We particularly encourage contributions that aim to bridge the gaps between disciplines. Articles that explore challenges and potential enablers for more holistic building energy research approaches are also welcomed.

Dr. Elie Azar
Dr. Mounir El Asmar
Guest Editors

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

energy efficiency
buildings
infrastructure
life cycle
planning
design
retrofit
construction
operation and maintenance
end-of-life
circular materials

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 844 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Analysis of the Impact of the Circular Economy Application on Construction and Demolition Waste in the United States of America

by Namho Cho, Mounir El Asmar and Mohammad Aldaaja

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10034; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su141610034 - 13 Aug 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2030

Abstract

The built environment is accountable for a substantial share of global waste production. Construction and demolition (C&D) debris requires significant landfill areas and costs billions of USD. A circular economy (CE) is a business model that promotes the efficient use of materials to minimize waste generation and raw material consumption. The success of a CE model can be directly linked to the economic impact for each of the business participants. This study applies the concept of CE to estimate the macro-scale financial impact of key entities that contribute to the unclaimed C&D debris stream in the United States of America (U.S.). This study identifies three recycling steam entities: waste generators, recyclers, and end-users. The result shows that waste generators can save USD 6.5 billion by recycling in comparison to sending the current waste materials to landfills. This study could not find the estimated economic benefit for recyclers, but reasonable profit should be generated for them to sustain the C&D recycling industry. Lastly, end-users benefit by an estimated USD 34 billion, which can be achieved based on the condition of high-value recycling materials. The contribution of this paper is analyzing the macro-scale impact of CE on both business owners and consumers and showing how the impact on consumers cannot be neglected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave)

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23 pages, 4533 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Green Building Contractors 2025: Analyzing and Forecasting Green Building Contractors’ Market Trends in the US

by Hala Sanboskani, Mounir El Asmar and Elie Azar

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8808; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14148808 - 19 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2828

Abstract

With population growth, the demand for building construction is continuously increasing. This comes at the price of the built environment where the building sector is contributing to large energy consumption and carbon footprint releases. To encourage sustainable construction, contractors need to see the market benefit of “going green”. Previous studies of green building contractors (GBCs) mainly relied on qualitative discussions and lacked studying the market performance which drives contractors’ decisions the most. This paper collects GBC revenue data from the Engineering News-Record magazine for the top 100 GBCs over a 13-year period and performs trend analysis to assess the market performance of GBCs and time series analysis to forecast future revenues. In addition, k-means clustering technique was used to divide the firms into subsets of similar behavior to understand growth trends for different firm sizes. The results show a continuous increase in green building revenues (GBRs), where commercial office buildings contribute the most to it. Furthermore, the firm ranks responsible for most of the growth are identified; mainly the top 9. Predictions show the expected steady increase in GBR in the upcoming years which is anticipated to reach 83 billion USD in 2025. The findings inform contractors considering executing green buildings by understanding the market trends and forecasted revenues. Moreover, contractors who are already in the green building business can use this information to increase their revenues in their respective market subset. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave)

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27 pages, 5276 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Parametric Approach to Optimizing Building Construction Systems and Carbon Footprint: A Case Study Inspired by Circularity Principles

by Muheeb Al-Obaidy, Luc Courard and Shady Attia

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3370; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14063370 - 13 Mar 2022

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 7762

Abstract

There is a global call for a paradigm shift in the construction industry towards carbon neutrality, but a scant effort has been madein practice, especially concerning circularity. This paper helps bridge the gap by introducing a parametric approach to optimize sustainable construction design. The methodology was tested on a newly constructed office building, inspired by circularity principles, in Westerlo, Belgium. The methodology consists of parametric construction-typological analysis, automated through One Click LCA software (Life Cycle Assessment) and Microsoft Excel with 21 alternate designs and 630 iterations. The parametric variations involved three key performance indicators: construction system, materials’ environmental impact, and materials; reuse of content. The environmental effects of both construction systems (i.e., structural system, foundation type, materials, and envelope details) and reused building materials content (i.e.,) were evaluated by the parametric analysis for four construction systems scenarios. Environmental impact analysis for timber, steel, concrete, and hybrid construction systems was conducted, following ISO 14040 and CEN/TC 350 standards. The focus of the whole life cycle assessment was mainly on carbon neutrality. Results indicate that using local biosourced materials, including timber, can remarkably reduce buildings’ environmental impact. The sensitivity analysis results provide hard evidence that the construction material’s weight, materials reuse potential, and construction dismantling ability are the most influential factors in carbon-neutral buildings. This paper should improve professionals’ understanding of the impact of different structural systems choices and inform building designers about the circularity potential, and carbon footprint of construction technologies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave)

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15 pages, 2456 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Exergy-Based Life Cycle Assessment of Buildings: Case Studies

by Martin Nwodo and Chimay J. Anumba

Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11682; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132111682 - 22 Oct 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1656

Abstract

The relevance of exergy to the life cycle assessment (LCA) of buildings has been studied regarding its potential to solve certain challenges in LCA, such as the characterization and valuation, accuracy of resource use, and interpretation and comparison of results. However, this potential has not been properly investigated using case studies. This study develops an exergy-based LCA method and applies it to three case-study buildings to explore its benefits. The results provide evidence that the theoretical benefits of exergy-based LCA as against a conventional LCA can be achieved. These include characterization and valuation benefits, accuracy, and enabling the comparison of environmental impacts. With the results of the exergy-based LCA method in standard metrics, there is now a mechanism for the competitive benchmarking of building sustainability assessments. It is concluded that the exergy-based life cycle assessment method has the potential to solve the characterization and valuation problems in the conventional life-cycle assessment of buildings, with local and global significance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave)

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23 pages, 6458 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Life-Cycle Assessment of Fly Ash and Cenosphere-Based Geopolymer Material

by Weixin Tang, Gloria Pignatta and Samad M. E. Sepasgozar

Sustainability 2021, 13(20), 11167; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132011167 - 10 Oct 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3867

Abstract

It was widely reported in the early 2000s that geopolymer technology exhibits superior mechanical properties and lower global warming potential (GWP) over the use of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). However, a major limitation observed in the sustainability evaluation is a lack of consideration of environmental impacts from the use of industrial waste. This observation led to the purpose of this study, which is to identify the key factors throughout geopolymer production that contribute to its sustainability performance. In this paper, two geopolymers made of fly ash (G-FA) and cenospheres (G-C) were examined by mechanical testing while their sustainability impacts on a cradle-to-grave approach were investigated. The industrial waste and transport modelling impacts were given special attention in the performed life-cycle assessment. After 28 days of curing, G-FA exhibited 64.56 MPa and 6.03 MPa of compressive strength and flexural strength, respectively. G-C, with ¾ of G-FA bulk density, achieved 19.09 MPa and 3.13 MPa, respectively, with no significant changes observed after 14 days of curing. By upscaling the inventories to 1 m³ of industrial production scale, geopolymers showed a GWP reduction up to 49.7% compared to OPC with natural aggregates and presented benefits on human health damage category by 23.7% (G-FA) to 41.6% (G-C). In conclusion, geopolymer mortars establish compressive strength and flexural strength that are adequate for construction applications and present sustainability benefits in GWP, which suggests them to be potential substitutions for OPC. However, the industrial waste treatment (i.e., preparation of fly ash) will deplete water bodies, and the sodium silicate induces significant environmental burdens during its manufacture, becoming the key factor to enhance the geopolymer’s sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave)

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36 pages, 14706 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Impact of Outdoor Temperature Variations on Thermal State in Experiments Using Immersive Virtual Environment

by Girish Rentala, Yimin Zhu and Neil M. Johannsen

Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10638; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su131910638 - 25 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1701

Abstract

Recent studies have established immersive virtual environments (IVEs) as promising tools for studying human thermal states and human–building interactions. One advantage of using immersive virtual environments is that experiments or data collection can be conducted at any time of the year. However, previous studies have confirmed the potential impact of outdoor temperature variations, such as seasonal variations on human thermal sensation. To the best of our knowledge, no study has looked into the potential impact of variations in outdoor temperatures on experiments using IVE. Thus, this study aimed to determine if different outdoor temperature conditions affected the thermal states in experiments using IVEs. Experiments were conducted using a head mounted display (HMD) in a climate chamber, and the data was analyzed under three temperature ranges. A total of seventy-two people participated in the experiments conducted in two contrasting outdoor temperature conditions, i.e., cold and warm outdoor conditions. The in situ experiments conducted in two cases, i.e., cooling in warm outdoor conditions and heating in cold outdoor conditions, were used as a baseline. The baseline in-situ experiments were then compared with the IVE experiments conducted in four cases, i.e., cooling in warm and cold outdoor conditions and heating in warm and cold outdoor conditions. The selection of cooling in cold outdoor conditions and heating in warm outdoor conditions for IVE experiments is particularly for studying the impact of outdoor temperature variations. Results showed that under the experimental and outdoor temperature conditions, outdoor temperature variations in most cases did not impact the results of IVE experiments, i.e., IVE experiments can replicate a temperature environment for participants compared to the ones in the in situ experiments. In addition, the participant’s thermal sensation vote was found to be a reliable indicator between IVE and in situ settings in all studied conditions. A few significantly different cases were related to thermal comfort, thermal acceptability, and overall skin temperature. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy and Buildings—from Cradle to Grave)

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