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Sustainable Energy Conversion Processes, Environment and Buildings and Urban Network

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 5577

Special Issue Editor

1. Research Department, Link Campus University, Rome, Italy
2. University of Seville (IMUS), Seville, Spain
Interests: energy conversion processes; circular economy; numerical model; sustainable buildings and infrastructures; sustainable transports; physical processes in experimental tests; heat transfer; pollutant emissions; engine efficiency; combustion process; thermal systems; alternative fuels; waste management; climate changes; smart cities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The initiative for Sustainable Development Goals launched by the United Nations in the 2030 Agenda has brought to the forefront of discussions on development the imperative of providing clean and affordable energy in different areas of the world. The use of new technologies and alternative energy sources in power systems is moving towards more efficient and environmentally-friendly solutions.

In addition, in the last decade, many cities have been undergoing a major restructuring of their design of urban networks with sustainable transport and infrastructure, motivated by a growing urban dispersion that arises from the demand for cheaper housing and the location of commercial enterprises. The aim is to put together a series of scientific articles that report important actions taken to improve aspects of sustainability, which may include energy processes, transport, urban design, infrastructure and buildings, biomass conversion, waste management, and logistics. Articles are invited from all countries.

Dr. Guido Marseglia
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

  • energy conversion processes
  • circular economy
  • numerical model
  • sustainable buildings and infrastructures
  • sustainable transports
  • physical processes in experimental tests
  • pollutant emissions
  • sustainable policies
  • renewable energies
  • waste

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 29324 KiB  
Article
Ecological Footprint of Residential Buildings in Composite Climate of India—A Case Study
by Ashok Kumar, Pardeep Singh, Nishant Raj Kapoor, Chandan Swaroop Meena, Kshitij Jain, Kishor S. Kulkarni and Raffaello Cozzolino
Sustainability 2021, 13(21), 11949; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su132111949 - 28 Oct 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3161
Abstract
Buildings are accountable for waste generation, utilization of natural resources, and ecological contamination. The construction sector is one of the biggest consumers of resources available naturally and is responsible for significant CO2 emissions on the planet. The effects of the buildings on [...] Read more.
Buildings are accountable for waste generation, utilization of natural resources, and ecological contamination. The construction sector is one of the biggest consumers of resources available naturally and is responsible for significant CO2 emissions on the planet. The effects of the buildings on the environment are commonly determined using Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). The investigation and comparison of the Life Cycle Ecological Footprint (LCEF) and Life Cycle Energy (LCE) of five residential buildings situated in the composite climatic zone of India is presented in this study. The utilization of resources (building materials) along with developing a mobile application and a generic model to choose low emission material is the uniqueness of this study. The utilization of eco-friendly building materials and how these are more efficient than conventional building materials are also discussed. In this investigation, the two approaches, (a) Life Cycle Energy Assessment (LCEA) and (b) Life Cycle Ecological Footprint (LCEF), are discussed to evaluate the impacts of building materials on the environment. The energy embedded due to the materials used in a building is calculated to demonstrate the prevalence of innovative construction techniques over traditional materials. The generic model developed to assess the LCEA of residential buildings in the composite climate of India and the other results show that the utilization of low-energy building materials brings about a significant decrease in the LCEF and the LCE of the buildings. The results are suitable for a similar typology of buildings elsewhere in different climatic zone as well. The MATLAB model presented will help researchers globally to follow-up or replicate the study in their country. The developed user-friendly mobile application will enhance the awareness related to energy, environment, ecology, and sustainable development in the general public. This study can help in understanding and thus reducing the ecological burden of building materials, eventually leading towards sustainable development. Full article
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19 pages, 22367 KiB  
Article
Mechanical Properties of Spruce Wood Extracted from GLT Beams Loaded by Fire
by Lucie Kucíková, Michal Šejnoha, Tomáš Janda, Jan Sýkora, Pavel Padevět and Guido Marseglia
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5494; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13105494 - 14 May 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1678
Abstract
Heating wood to high temperature changes either temporarily or permanently its physical properties. This issue is addressed in the present contribution by examining the effect of high temperature on residual mechanical properties of spruce wood, grounding on the results of full-scale fire tests [...] Read more.
Heating wood to high temperature changes either temporarily or permanently its physical properties. This issue is addressed in the present contribution by examining the effect of high temperature on residual mechanical properties of spruce wood, grounding on the results of full-scale fire tests performed on GLT beams. Given these tests, a computational model was developed to provide through-thickness temperature profiles allowing for the estimation of a charring depth on the one hand and on the other hand assigning a particular temperature to each specimen used subsequently in small-scale tensile tests. The measured Young’s moduli and tensile strengths were accompanied by the results from three-point bending test carried out on two groups of beams exposed to fire of a variable duration and differing in the width of the cross-section, b=100 mm (Group 1) and b=160 mm (Group 2). As expected, increasing the fire duration and reducing the initial beam cross-section reduces the residual bending strength. A negative impact of high temperature on residual strength has also been observed from simple tensile tests, although limited to a very narrow layer adjacent to the charring front not even exceeding a typically adopted value of the zero-strength layer d0=7 mm. On the contrary, the impact on stiffness is relatively mild supporting the thermal recovery property of wood. Full article
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