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Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and...
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Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Materials, and Repair & Renovation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 21668

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ming-Gin Lee

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Construction Engineering, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 413310, Taiwan
Interests: building materials; repair and renovation; recycle and reuse of waste materials; energy conservation and carbon reduction technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yeng-Fong Shih

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Applied Chemistry, Chaoyang University of Technology, Taichung 413310, Taiwan
Interests: polymer composites; biomass composites; nanocomposites; low carbon composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The building and construction industry is one of the largest resource-consuming industries in the world, including the extraction of materials, energy and water consumption, and waste generation. Therefore, sustainable development is a key goal of the national circular economy policy—a renewable economy in which the negative impact of the construction industry on the environment is minimized. Therefore, sustainable and green construction materials are mandatory from a modern engineering design. This Special Issue is devoted to publishing papers that describe the most significant research in building materials,  repair, and renovation, with a focus on advanced, sustainable, or green building, which could contribute to a construction industry based on the innovation and circular economy principles.

This Special Issue covers the following important topics:

  • Sustainable or green materials for construction;
  • Innovative repair/renovation techniques or materials;
  • Advanced materials for construction;
  • Energy saving and carbon reduction in construction;
  • Integrated approaches for building materials, repair, and renovation in sustainable construction;
  • Case studies in sustainable or green construction materials.

Prof. Dr. Ming-Gin Lee
Prof. Dr. Yeng-Fong Shih
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

  • green building materials
  • sustainable development
  • circular economy
  • energy saving
  • recycle and reuse of waste materials
  • eco-friendly
  • carbon reduction

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Editorial

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3 pages, 183 KiB  
Editorial
Sustainable Development: Emerging Trends in Energy Efficiency, Carbon Reduction, and Green Building Materials
by Jeremiah Lee, Ming-Gin Lee, Yeng-Fong Shih and Liza Lee
Buildings 2023, 13(3), 735; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13030735 - 10 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1326
Abstract
On 4 March, World Engineering for Sustainable Development Day provides an opportunity to highlight what engineers and engineering have achieved in our modern world and to raise public understanding of how engineering and technology are at the heart of modern life and sustainable [...] Read more.
On 4 March, World Engineering for Sustainable Development Day provides an opportunity to highlight what engineers and engineering have achieved in our modern world and to raise public understanding of how engineering and technology are at the heart of modern life and sustainable development [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

21 pages, 3856 KiB  
Article
Techno-Environmental Assessment of Insulation Materials in Saudi Arabia: Integrating Thermal Performance and LCA
by Yazeed Alsaqabi, Abdulbasit Almhafdy, Husnain Haider, Amirhosein Ghaffarianhoseini, Ali Ghaffarianhoseini and Ahmed AbdelMonteleb M. Ali
Buildings 2023, 13(2), 331; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13020331 - 22 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2766
Abstract
Arid and hot regions, like Saudi Arabia, utilize up to 60% of the country’s energy to regulate buildings’ indoor comfort. Energy efficiency is a long-term sustainability measure that is part of the government’s Vision 2030 strategy. A standard method of improving the thermal [...] Read more.
Arid and hot regions, like Saudi Arabia, utilize up to 60% of the country’s energy to regulate buildings’ indoor comfort. Energy efficiency is a long-term sustainability measure that is part of the government’s Vision 2030 strategy. A standard method of improving the thermal performance of buildings is through the use of insulation materials. Considering the cooling loads’ requirement and the Global Warming Potential (GWP), the present research evaluated the effectiveness of insulation materials, including extruded polystyrene, expanded polystyrene, rock wool, and glass wool in the hot, arid climate. For this case study, four similar villas facing the cardinal directions were selected from the residential project at Qassim University. HOBO data loggers were used to collect indoor temperature data. Thermal performance and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were conducted in accordance with Saudi Building Code-602 (SBC-602). Simulation outputs based on the four cardinal directions were used for assessing the thermal performance and LCA of the different thicknesses and densities of insulation materials. This was done using IESVE and SimaPro, IMPACR2002+, to assess their cooling load and GWP, respectively. The results suggest the potential for using lower insulation thickness for the northern and western façades without violating the SBC. The results obtained the actual thicknesses of the three insulation materials for achieving indoor temperatures in the four cardinal directions and the selection of materials and their densities along with associated GWP. The outputs of the study have been generalized in the form of a performance-based flowchart as a tool for selecting the type and thickness of thermal and environmental insulation in residential buildings in the Qassim region of Saudi Arabia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)
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13 pages, 7341 KiB  
Article
Effects of Bio-Based Polyelectrolyte Complex on Thermal Stability, Flammability, and Mechanical Properties Performance Utilization in PLA/PBS Composites
by Yeng-Fong Shih, Ching-Wei Lin, Yu-Liang Cai, Kousar Jahan and Ying-Hsiao Chen
Buildings 2023, 13(1), 154; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13010154 - 7 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1880
Abstract
In this study, the two eco-friendly flame retardants of the polymeric type (PA-PEI) and monomeric type (PA-Arg) phytate amine complexes were prepared via the ionic reaction of polyethylenimine (PEI) or arginine (Arg), respectively, with phytic acid in an aqueous solution. The chemical structure [...] Read more.
In this study, the two eco-friendly flame retardants of the polymeric type (PA-PEI) and monomeric type (PA-Arg) phytate amine complexes were prepared via the ionic reaction of polyethylenimine (PEI) or arginine (Arg), respectively, with phytic acid in an aqueous solution. The chemical structure and thermal stability of PA-PEI and PA-Arg were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In order to improve the flame retardancy of the polylactic acid (PLA)/polybutylene succinate (PBS) biocomposites (P/15B-based biocomposites), the flame retardants PA-PEI and PA-Arg were embedded into P/15B by thermal blending procedures, respectively, to obtain P/15B/PA-PEI series and P/15B/PA-Arg series biocomposites. The TGA analyses demonstrated that incorporating PA-PEI or PA-Arg into the P/15B polymer enhances the char residues in these P/15B biocomposites. The XRD and SEM analyses of the P/15B/PA-PEI series and P/15B/PA-Arg series suggested the PA-PEI and PA-Arg were embedded into the P/15B polymer matrixes, respectively. The mechanical results showed that P/15B/PA-Arg series exhibited higher values than the P/15B/PA-PEI series biocomposite, which were associated with less roughness of P/15B/PA-Arg than that of the P/15B/PA-PEI series. The flammability results of the P/15B/PA-PEI series and P/15B/PA-Arg series biocomposites exhibited a V-2 level in UL94 vertical test. Further, the fire resistance performance of P/15B-based biocomposites was enhanced by incorporating PA-PEI or PA-Arg into the P/15B matrix through the analyses of the Cone calorimeter test (CCT), as a comparison with neat P/15B. The peak heat release rate (pHRR), the total heat release rate (THR), and char residues of P/15B/15PA-Arg biocomposite were significantly improved to 280.26 kW/m2, 107.89 MJ/m2, and 10.4%, respectively. The enhancement of the P/15B-based composites’ fire resistance is attributed to the interplay effect on the catalytic and condensed effect on the thermal decomposition of PA-PEI or PA-Arg in P/15B biocomposites. The resultant eco-friendly flame-retardant P/15B biocomposites reported in this study can be widely applied in various fields, including construction, electronic appliances, and other fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)
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19 pages, 2633 KiB  
Article
Life Cycle Assessment of Embodied Carbon and Strategies for Decarbonization of a High-Rise Residential Building
by Badr Saad Alotaibi, Sahil Ali Khan, Mohammed Awad Abuhussain, Nedhal Al-Tamimi, Rana Elnaklah and Mohammad Arif Kamal
Buildings 2022, 12(8), 1203; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12081203 - 10 Aug 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3702
Abstract
The construction sector is responsible for the 40% of consumed resources, 40% of CO2 emissions, and approximately 40% of construction and demolition waste. For the assessment of the building, there exists a standardized method, life cycle assessment (LCA), however, the process requires [...] Read more.
The construction sector is responsible for the 40% of consumed resources, 40% of CO2 emissions, and approximately 40% of construction and demolition waste. For the assessment of the building, there exists a standardized method, life cycle assessment (LCA), however, the process requires time, cost, and most importantly expertise. In this paper, a method is proposed and analyzed for the life cycle assessment of the building for the embodied carbon in the three stages, construction, operation, and demolition. Moreover, the result of the analysis is considered as the base result, and de-carbonization strategies identified through literature study for the three stages of construction, operation, and demolition are assessed with the same method to know how much each strategy will be effective in minimizing the embodied carbon. For the base case, a high-rise residential building in an urban region of India is analyzed, based on existing conditions through the building information modeling (BIM) method. The carbon emission of the selected building comes out to be 414 kg CO2e/m2/year, and assessing different decarbonization strategies, considering the first analysis as the baseline, it can be minimized to 135 kg CO2e/m2/year. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)
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17 pages, 3607 KiB  
Article
CO2 Curing on the Mechanical Properties of Portland Cement Concrete
by Yung-Chih Wang, Ming-Gin Lee, Wei-Chien Wang, Yu-Cheng Kan, Shih-Hsuan Kao and Hsien-Wen Chang
Buildings 2022, 12(6), 817; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12060817 - 13 Jun 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2897
Abstract
This study was to evaluate the CO2 curing on mechanical properties of Portland cement concrete. Three different specimen sizes (5 × 10 cm, 10 × 20 cm, and 15 × 30 cm cylinders), three CO2 concentrations (50%, 75%, 100%), three curing [...] Read more.
This study was to evaluate the CO2 curing on mechanical properties of Portland cement concrete. Three different specimen sizes (5 × 10 cm, 10 × 20 cm, and 15 × 30 cm cylinders), three CO2 concentrations (50%, 75%, 100%), three curing pressures (0.2, 0.4, 0.8 MPa), three curing times (1, 3, 6 h), two water cement ratios (0.41, 0.68) for normal and high-strength concretes, and two test ages (3, 28 days) were used for this investigation. Before using the CO2 curing process, the concrete samples reached the initial set at approximately 4 h, and the free water in the samples was gradually removed when dry CO2 gas was injected. The test results show that the 3-day early compressive strength of normal concrete cured by CO2 is higher than that of concrete cured by water, but the difference is not obvious for high-strength concrete cured by CO2. In addition, there is a size effect on the strength of the 5 × 10 cm and 15 × 30 cm cylinders, and the strength conversion factor ks5 value obtained for the 28-day compressive strength is greater than 1.18. Compared to conventional water-cured concrete, the elastic modulus of carbon dioxide-cured one generally increases in proportion to the square root of the 28-day compressive strength. It was observed that there are only minor differences in the four EC empirical equations obtained by CO2 curing from 5 × 10 cm and 10 × 20 cm cylinders, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)
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18 pages, 6864 KiB  
Article
Mechanical Properties of High-Strength Pervious Concrete with Steel Fiber or Glass Fiber
by Ming-Gin Lee, Wei-Chien Wang, Yung-Chih Wang, Yi-Cheng Hsieh and Yung-Chih Lin
Buildings 2022, 12(5), 620; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12050620 - 7 May 2022
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 4289
Abstract
Pervious concrete (also called porous concrete) is one of the most promising sustainable and green building materials today. This study examined high-strength pervious concrete and ordinary-strength pervious concrete reinforced with steel fiber or glass fiber. A total of fifteen mixtures of normal- and [...] Read more.
Pervious concrete (also called porous concrete) is one of the most promising sustainable and green building materials today. This study examined high-strength pervious concrete and ordinary-strength pervious concrete reinforced with steel fiber or glass fiber. A total of fifteen mixtures of normal- and high-strength pervious concretes with steel fiber or glass fiber were used. The goal of high-strength pervious concrete is that the 28-day compressive strength be above 42 MPa and the porosity be as close to 15% as possible to achieve technical specifications. Both normal- and high-strength pervious concretes reinforced with steel fiber (1%, 2%) or glass fiber (0.25%, 0.5%) were investigated in water permeability, porosity, compressive strength, flexural strength, elastic modulus, and toughness tests. The test results show that in both high-strength pervious concrete and ordinary pervious concrete with steel fibers added, the porosity and permeability coefficient are increased compared with the control group. The coefficient of permeability for high-strength, fiber-reinforced pervious concretes with two aggregate sizes meets the requirements of the ACI specification for structural concrete. In addition, the high-strength pervious concrete specimen H1-S2 (2% steel fiber) has the highest compressive strength of 52.8 MPa at the age of 28 days. The flexural strength of pervious concrete also increases with age. However, the flexural strength of fiber-reinforced pervious concrete did not follow this trend due to the large variation in the quality control of different fiber mixtures. However, both steel fiber and glass fiber have a certain degree of improvement in the flexural toughness, and the effect is better with steel fiber. After the flexural strength reaches the peak value, there is still about 30% of the bearing capacity, and it gradually decreases until it is completely destroyed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)
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16 pages, 11748 KiB  
Article
Using a Unique Retaining Method for Building Foundation Excavation: A Case Study on Sustainable Construction Methods and Circular Economy
by Tai-Yi Liu, Shiau-Jing Ho, Hui-Ping Tserng and Hong-Kee Tzou
Buildings 2022, 12(3), 298; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12030298 - 3 Mar 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3793
Abstract
The selection of a retaining method during the excavation of building foundations is always of paramount concern to engineers. In general, the application and use of steel H-shapes are typically practiced by designers to form the entire retaining system; however, sustainability issues, including [...] Read more.
The selection of a retaining method during the excavation of building foundations is always of paramount concern to engineers. In general, the application and use of steel H-shapes are typically practiced by designers to form the entire retaining system; however, sustainability issues, including carbon emission reduction, environment protection, material consumption, and resource circulation, are being increasingly considered when developing a new project. The Linkou Public Housing Project (LPHP), located in New Taipei City, Taiwan, is introduced in this paper to present a sustainable soil-retaining method that also exhibits the principles of a circular economy. The triangular shape of the foundation zone of the LPHP led to difficulty in setting the horizontal strut H-beam system. In this project, the “Anchor Pile with Steel Cable System (APSCS)” was adopted to retain the 11.5 m depth excavation for the LPHP foundation construction. The prime contents of the soil in the Linkou district comprises a laterite–gravel layer mixed with brown silty and sandy clay, with a groundwater level (G.L.) of −25 m. By adopting the sustainable APSCS method, the excavation of the LPHP foundation was safely completed. Approximately NT $350 million in direct and indirect costs of construction was saved, and the duration of the work was reduced by up to 90 days. Furthermore, the carbon emissions were reduced by 677.6 tons due to the diminished use of the steel H-shaped materials. The authors concluded that the use of the APSCS method in the LPHP was successful and it was a valuable reference for other similar projects. Moreover, the authors presented another retaining-system failure case, which was located near the LPHP site, to compare the success of the LPHP. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Development: New Trends in Energy Saving, Carbon Reduction and Green Building Materials)
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