Climate Change and Building Energy Efficiency

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 July 2023) | Viewed by 3487

Special Issue Editors

School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
Interests: low-energy buildings; ZEB, TRNSYS; building energy saving
Construction Research Centre, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Interests: climate-resilient buildings; weather research and forecasts (WRF); computational fluid dynamics (CFD); building energy saving; ventilation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The building sectors are estimated to be responsible for 30-40% of the total global energy consumption and 20% of the global greenhouse gas emissions; therefore, improving the energy efficiency of infrastructure is critical to solving the climate crisis. Considering that building and construction assets are typically designed to last for several decades or even centuries, the resiliency of the buildings and their energy systems to climate change should be evaluated and improved. Building designs and energy-saving interventions should be reconsidered under different climate scenarios, specifically future scenarios, to evaluate the robustness of these strategies and to determine their potential risks.

In this Special Issue, articles on topics such as climate change’s impacts on buildings, mitigation of climate change effects on infrastructure, building energy saving  and performance evaluations for future climate predictions, net-zero energy buildings, climate-resilient building and so on are of interest. This Special Issue intends to act as a forum for the dissemination of the latest research and developments in climate-resilient buildings and energy saving in the context of the future climate.

Prof. Dr. Zhiyong Tian
Dr. Chang Shu
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. 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

  • climate change
  • resilient
  • solar energy
  • sustainability
  • net zero energy
  • urban climate
  • future climate
  • energy saving
  • renewable energy
  • building simulation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 8507 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation Analyses on Envelope Structures of Economic Passive Buildings in Severe Cold Region
by Chao Liu, Chunhai Sun, Guangyuan Li, Wenjia Yang and Fang Wang
Buildings 2023, 13(4), 1098; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13041098 - 21 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1180
Abstract
The present study provides comprehensive analyses of a newly constructed passive energy-efficient building located in Harbin, China, which is a prime example of how to design a passive building that withstands the severe cold climate in northeast Asia. Conduction transfer functions of heat [...] Read more.
The present study provides comprehensive analyses of a newly constructed passive energy-efficient building located in Harbin, China, which is a prime example of how to design a passive building that withstands the severe cold climate in northeast Asia. Conduction transfer functions of heat flux equilibrium are employed to simulate energy consumption characteristics of the paradigm passive building. The climatic conditions in severe cold region are analyzed, and the energy-saving designs in the studied engineering cases are summarized for their practical applications. Building physical models are established to perform numerical simulation analyses on the passive building paradigm in northeast Asian frigid zone. The dominant technical parameters of envelope structure affecting energy consumption in severe cold region, including thermal insulation thickness and heat transfer coefficient of building envelope, as well as window-to-wall ratio for each building facade, are taken into consideration as simulation variables to calculate cooling load, heating load, electricity consumption, and CO2 emission, which account for energy efficiency of passive buildings. The simulation results demonstrate the high energy-saving potential of the proposed passive building design and render the optimal energy-efficient parameters suitable for severe cold regions, which can reduce energy consumption and CO2 emission while ensuring comfort for occupants. The present study provides a theoretical reference for envelope structures of passive buildings in severe cold regions, which is of great significance to the development of green buildings and relevant policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Building Energy Efficiency)
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20 pages, 5392 KiB  
Article
Improvement Options of a Social Housing Prototype in Different Climate Zones in Ecuador
by Evelyn Delgado-Gutierrez, Jacinto Canivell, David Bienvenido-Huertas and Carlos Rubio-Bellido
Buildings 2022, 12(7), 989; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12070989 - 11 Jul 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1636
Abstract
Ecuador is a country with several climate zones. The zones’ characteristics are very different; however, there are social housing prototypes used in all the territories. This study constitutes the second part of the analysis of a social housing prototype in four zones (Cfb, [...] Read more.
Ecuador is a country with several climate zones. The zones’ characteristics are very different; however, there are social housing prototypes used in all the territories. This study constitutes the second part of the analysis of a social housing prototype in four zones (Cfb, Af, Aw, and BSh) in both the current climate situation (2020) and its projection to 2050. Improvement measures from the original dwelling block have been proposed according to the initial diagnosis, considering seven passive performance variants. A total of 56 dynamic simulations have been performed for both the current and 2050 climate scenario. The results have shown that, depending on the climate zone, improvement measures differently influence comfort ranges. In addition, the behaviour of the dwellings on the upper floor is different from those on the ground floor. This study is a starting point to show that prototype solutions of social housing should be adapted with various improvement measures and should be based on specific requirements according to their location to achieve acceptable comfort levels. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Building Energy Efficiency)
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