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Buildings
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Building Energy Retrofit for Sustainable Urban Renewal
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Building Energy Retrofit for Sustainable Urban Renewal

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Construction Management, and Computers & Digitization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 July 2023) | Viewed by 11668

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Dong Zhao

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Guest Editor
School of Planning, Design & Construction, Michigan State University, Michigan, MI, USA
Interests: human-building integration; smart buildings; green buildings; system & network risks
Prof. Dr. Sandeep Langar

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Guest Editor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Construction Management, University of Texas, San Antonio, TX, USA
Interests: sustainable buildings; resilient technologies; information technology in the built environment; innovation adoption
Prof. Dr. Yongsheng Jiang

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Guest Editor
School of Management Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, China
Interests: green buildings; policy simulation; urban economics; sustainable development evaluation; prefabricated building
Prof. Dr. Yunjeong Mo

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Guest Editor
Construction Management, College of Computing, Engineering and Construction, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA
Interests: building energy; occupant behavior; digital twin; VR/AR; IoT; building information modeling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy retrofit of existing buildings represents an opportunity to upgrade the energy performance of commercial and residential buildings to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy demand. Building energy retrofit involves multiple disciplines in science and engineering, such as architecture, civil engineering, material science, real estate, urban economics, and urban planning. Energy retrofits will reduce operational costs in buildings, especially older buildings. At the same time, current energy retrofit methods and technologies face significant challenges when they are scaled up to address urban renewal problems. This Special Issue aims to provide insight into this problem and call for technical papers and case studies that demonstrate how energy retrofitting can be leveraged to the urban level in terms of design, engineering, and planning.

Prof. Dr. Dong Zhao
Prof. Dr. Sandeep Langar
Prof. Dr. Yongsheng Jiang
Prof. Dr. Yunjeong Mo
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 retrofit
  • urban renewal
  • built environment
  • energy performance
  • smart city
  • smart building
  • energy efficiency

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 6271 KiB  
Article
Potential for Net-Zero Energy Communities in Kuwait: An Empirical Techno-Economic Modeling and Optimization Approach
by Bader Alaifan and Elie Azar
Buildings 2023, 13(8), 2096; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13082096 - 17 Aug 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 721
Abstract
A net-zero energy community (NZEC) is a promising paradigm that can directly contribute to a sustainable building sector and infrastructure. This research presents a unique empirical techno-economic optimization and evaluation approach for NZEC potential and enablers through its application to the understudied context [...] Read more.
A net-zero energy community (NZEC) is a promising paradigm that can directly contribute to a sustainable building sector and infrastructure. This research presents a unique empirical techno-economic optimization and evaluation approach for NZEC potential and enablers through its application to the understudied context of Kuwait. The proposed approach is unique, as it integrates data-driven and physics-based modelling capabilities, captures the impact of urban form on NZEC techno-economic performance, and quantifies through sensitivity analyses the impact of potential enablers in overcoming financial barriers to adoption. Results indicate that NZECs are far from being competitive in Kuwait compared to the business-as-usual scenario of electricity grid purchase at highly subsidized tariffs. Increasing electricity rates to a minimum of 0.03 $/kWh is recommended, coupled with investing in energy efficiency and enabling grid sell-back capabilities. Finally, results indicate that the energy demand profiles of office and multi-family buildings are more advantageous for efficient NZEC design and performance than villas, the most predominant building type in Kuwait. Limiting the share of NZEC energy demand from villas to 25% helps avoid excessive energy generation and storage capacities and costs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy Retrofit for Sustainable Urban Renewal)
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13 pages, 4043 KiB  
Article
Semi-Transparent Water-Based Trombe Walls for Passive Air and Water Heating
by Harmeet Singh and Paul G. O’Brien
Buildings 2022, 12(10), 1632; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12101632 - 08 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1556
Abstract
Trombe walls provide a passive source of heating and ventilation for buildings. However, Trombe walls can also cause overheating during hot and sunny weather conditions. In this work, we investigate the potential of a multifunctional Trombe wall design, comprising a tinted acrylic sheet [...] Read more.
Trombe walls provide a passive source of heating and ventilation for buildings. However, Trombe walls can also cause overheating during hot and sunny weather conditions. In this work, we investigate the potential of a multifunctional Trombe wall design, comprising a tinted acrylic sheet submerged in a water wall that functions as a thermal storage medium. The tinted acrylic sheet absorbs incident light, which is then converted to heat and absorbed by the water. The proposed Trombe wall can function as a tinted semi-transparent window to add aesthetic value. Furthermore, heated water rises to the top of the Trombe wall where it can be removed, which provides the dual benefit of preventing overheating and providing a source of preheated water for applications within the building. Experimental results performed on a laboratory-scale Trombe wall prototype showed that the percentage of solar-simulated light energy incident onto the Trombe wall prototype, over a period of five hours, that was stored as thermal energy in the water increased from 60.3% to 83.2% when tinted glass was inserted in the water storage wall. Furthermore, the temperature of the water at the top of the Trombe wall reached ~56 °C, which is suitable to be used as pre-heated water in building applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy Retrofit for Sustainable Urban Renewal)
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Review

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14 pages, 1072 KiB  
Review
Decision-Making Approach to Urban Energy Retrofit—A Comprehensive Review
by Lei Shu and Dong Zhao
Buildings 2023, 13(6), 1425; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13061425 - 31 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1356
Abstract
This research presents a comprehensive review of the research on smart urban energy retrofit decision-making. Based on the analysis of 91 journal articles over the past decade, the study identifies and discusses five key categories of approaches to retrofit decision-making, including simulation, optimization, [...] Read more.
This research presents a comprehensive review of the research on smart urban energy retrofit decision-making. Based on the analysis of 91 journal articles over the past decade, the study identifies and discusses five key categories of approaches to retrofit decision-making, including simulation, optimization, assessment, system integration, and empirical study. While substantial advancements have been made in this field, opportunities for further growth remain. Findings suggest directions for future research and underscore the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, data-driven evaluation methodologies, stakeholder engagement, system integration, and robust and adaptable retrofit solutions in the field of urban energy retrofitting. This review provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners interested in advancing the state of the art in this critical area of research to facilitate more effective, sustainable, and efficient solutions for urban energy retrofits. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy Retrofit for Sustainable Urban Renewal)
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26 pages, 698 KiB  
Review
Building Information Modeling (BIM) Capabilities in the Operation and Maintenance Phase of Green Buildings: A Systematic Review
by Yu Cao, Syahrul Nizam Kamaruzzaman and Nur Mardhiyah Aziz
Buildings 2022, 12(6), 830; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12060830 - 14 Jun 2022
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 6180
Abstract
In recent years, green buildings have gradually become a worldwide trend. Compared with traditional buildings, green buildings have advanced requirements and standards in their operation and maintenance phase. In such a context, some studies proposed that building information modeling (BIM) is an effective [...] Read more.
In recent years, green buildings have gradually become a worldwide trend. Compared with traditional buildings, green buildings have advanced requirements and standards in their operation and maintenance phase. In such a context, some studies proposed that building information modeling (BIM) is an effective method to improve green buildings’ operation and maintenance quality. The aim of this study is to perform a comprehensive review of the BIM capabilities in the operation and maintenance phase of green buildings through a systematic literature review. To achieve this aim, the PRISMA protocol was used to perform this systematic review. The whole systematic review was conducted between January 2022 and April 2022: 128 articles were included. In the process of study, Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus were adopted as bibliographic repositories. Through this study, it can be determined that BIM capabilities can be utilized in the facility management of the green building in the following aspects: safety and emergency management, maintenance and repair, energy management, security, retrofit and renovation, space management, and asset management. Secondly, these BIM capabilities were discussed, and the challenges and shortcomings of BIM capabilities in the operation and maintenance phase of green buildings were reviewed. Finally, a comprehensive overview of BIM capabilities in the facility management of green buildings was developed, and suggestions for future study were provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy Retrofit for Sustainable Urban Renewal)
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