Advanced Materials and Systems for Energy Efficient Buildings

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 6419

Special Issue Editors

1. Department of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA
2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16802, USA
Interests: building energy efficiency; residential and commercial building envelope systems evaluation; building science and energy efficiency of buildings; full-scale structural and environmental testing of building envelope systems; evaluation of building (structural and nonstructural) envelope systems under natural hazard and environmental load effects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Energy Management, New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, New York, NY 11568, USA
Interests: building energy modeling; BIM in energy modeling; energy smart buildings; building energy retrofit; building envelope science; building enclosure design; seismic engineering
College of Arts and Architecture, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Interests: net-zero energy buildings; environmental life cycle assessment; sustainable high-performance buildings; energy efficiency in building; embodied carbon modeling; novel construction materials with energy generation and carbon absorption capabilities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, the most needed and active research and development area related to buildings is energy-efficient construction, which falls under the general sustainability goal for buildings. Energy efficiency can be considered from the perspective of embodied energy, encompassing the energy used in creating the materials and systems making up the building, or the operational energy, which deals with energy consumption when the building is in use. This Special Issue focuses on construction materials and systems used in creating the building. Furthermore, to have a more focused scope, operational energy efficiency as it relates to building enclosure performance will be considered. Accordingly, the Special Issue invites contributions related to the following areas: materials used for foundation, structural, and architectural components, including envelope and roofing systems. Advancements in innovative construction materials such as low/zero/negative embodied carbon materials; bio-degradable plant- and wood-based materials; recyclable/reusable materials; use of recycled plastics in construction materials/systems; thermal-insulation materials; and innovative systems related to load-bearing and non-load-bearing components, foundation, envelope, glazing, roofing, siding, solar panels, and building-integrated photovoltaics are of particular interest. Authors are invited to submit contributions related to these topics and to also discuss how the subject materials and systems lead to energy efficiency.

Prof. Dr. Ali M. Memari 
Dr. Ehsan Kamel
Dr. Rahman Azari
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. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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.

Keywords

  • energy efficiency
  • sustainability
  • thermal insulation
  • envelope and enclosure
  • solar panels/BIPV
  • glazing systems
  • biodegradable materials
  • recyclable materials
  • roofing/siding

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 5487 KiB  
Article
Parametric Assessment to Evaluate and Compare the Carbon Footprint of Diverse Manufacturing Processes for Building Complex Surfaces
by Alberto Speroni, Matteo Cavaglià, Andrea Giovanni Mainini, Valentina Casarini, Simona Bovi, Juan Diego Blanco Cadena, Francesco Pittau and Tiziana Poli
Buildings 2023, 13(12), 2989; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13122989 - 30 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1365
Abstract
At present, building design is faced with a need to properly manage complex geometries and surfaces. This fact is not only driven by the increased demand for visually stunning spaces but also stems from the rise of new design paradigms, such as “user-centred [...] Read more.
At present, building design is faced with a need to properly manage complex geometries and surfaces. This fact is not only driven by the increased demand for visually stunning spaces but also stems from the rise of new design paradigms, such as “user-centred design”, that include bespoke optimization approaches. Nevertheless, the escalating adoption of customized components and one-off solutions raises valid concerns regarding the optimal use of energy and resources in this production paradigm. This study focuses on the Life Cycle Assessment of a novel Cement–Textile Composite (CTC) patented material. It combines a synthetic reinforcing textile with a customized concrete matrix, to generate rigid elements that are able to statically preserve complex spatial arrangements, particularly double-curvature surfaces. Moreover, the CTC offers a low-volume cost-effective alternative for custom-made cladding applications. The study performed a comparative carbon footprint assessment of the CTC production process in contrast to other technologies, such as CNC milling and 3D printing. To facilitate meaningful comparisons among diverse construction alternatives and to derive generalized data capable of characterizing their overall capacity, independent of specific production configurations, the present study implemented a generalized parametric shape of reference defined as a bounding box (BBOX), which encloses the volume of the target shape. Comparing different production technologies of the same shape with the same BBOX results in a significant carbon saving, up to 9/10th of the carbon footprint, when the CTC technology is adopted. The study therefore highlights the potential environmental advantages of CTC in the fields of architectural design and building engineering. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Systems for Energy Efficient Buildings)
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14 pages, 4967 KiB  
Article
Effect of a Microalgae Facade on Design Behaviors: A Pilot Study with Architecture Students
by Kathryn Warren, Julie Milovanovic and Kyoung Hee Kim
Buildings 2023, 13(3), 611; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030611 - 25 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3262
Abstract
The influence of nature on occupant well-being and performance has been proved in office, hospital, and educational settings. There is evidence that plants and green colors affect creative and psychological responses. The microalgae facade in the study integrated spirulina, blue-green microalgae, which were [...] Read more.
The influence of nature on occupant well-being and performance has been proved in office, hospital, and educational settings. There is evidence that plants and green colors affect creative and psychological responses. The microalgae facade in the study integrated spirulina, blue-green microalgae, which were cultivated using natural daylight and room air. While a good body of research explores nature’s impact on people, research on microalgae systems has not been linked to creative performance. This pilot study, therefore, focused on how the microalgae facade influences occupant mood and creativity. Forty architecture students were randomly assigned to the control and experimental rooms. The control group was surveyed in a room with a traditional window, whereas the experimental group was surveyed in a room with a biochromic window. Research design for the two conditions remained the same under IEQ-controlled environments except for the inclusion of the microalgae facade. Forty architecture students completed two creativity tasks—alternative use test (AUT) and remote association test (RAT)—and brainstorming for sustainable design in control and experimental settings. Our preliminary findings indicate that the microalgae facade did not affect divergent ideas and convergent thinking during tasks, but participants in the microalgae façade developed more design solutions that included greenery than students in the control space. This research is a preliminary investigation into the human impact of a microalgae façade and represents a new focus for scientific research. More work is needed to better grasp to what extent implementing a microalgae façade will impact human behavior in space. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Systems for Energy Efficient Buildings)
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16 pages, 2731 KiB  
Article
Development of a Multi-Asset Risk Assessment Algorithm in the Context of Home Energy Management
by Davide Ottonello, Alessandro Fermi, Daniele Ravizza, Marco Barbagelata, Stylianos Karatzas, Athanasios Chassiakos and Antonis Papamanolis
Buildings 2023, 13(2), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020428 - 03 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1116
Abstract
Risk management has become an important concern in the light of current developments in the home energy management sector as well as within the broader considerations regarding the building sector’s energy production and consumption paradigm. The current multi-parameter energy ecosystem structure raises a [...] Read more.
Risk management has become an important concern in the light of current developments in the home energy management sector as well as within the broader considerations regarding the building sector’s energy production and consumption paradigm. The current multi-parameter energy ecosystem structure raises a number of new challenges that require a reliable and robust risk management framework to assist in building management decision making. This paper presents a multi asset risk assessment algorithm, which is part of a risk management application developed for residential buildings within the framework of energy communities and digital energy markets. It describes the logic, principles, and operation of the algorithm, as well as the functionalities related to risk analysis and result visualization. This underpins the necessary means to monitor elements of a home energy system as well as tools for risk prevention and mitigation. The proposed application provides accurate, detailed, and easy to use information to assist decision makers and stakeholders in the context of smart home energy management systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Systems for Energy Efficient Buildings)
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