Dear Colleagues,

Green growth has been hailed as one of the main strategies to alleviate poverty, improve environmental performance, mitigate climate change impacts, and address other emerging developmental challenges facing world. In spite of the supports from international organisations to drive the adoption of renewable energy—a major green growth strategy, its vast potential is yet to be realised in many countries. About 2.9 billion people in the developing world still use polluting fuels like wood, coal and charcoal to cook and heat their homes. Recently, global CO₂ emissions appear to be going up strongly, after a three-year stable period with significant share attributed to human activities from developed and emerging economies. To address these challenges, the uptake of renewable energy in buildings needs to be accelerated. This uptake must be inclusive, taking into account gender balance and the interests of other vulnerable groups. However, studies about how the uptake renewable energy can be accelerated in a more efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient manner are scarce, with the result that significant questions need to posed.

Some examples are: a) what are the existing renewable energy technologies common in the markets? b) which are the policies and standards for regulating the integration of renewable energy technologies into buildings? c) how effective are the existing renewable energy policies and standards? d) in addition to renewable energy technologies, how can existing indigenous knowledge and innovations be exploited in optimising the harnessing of energy for buildings? e) what are the existing individual as well as institutional capacities required for the deployment of renewable energy technologies in buildings? f) how can gender issues be addressed in the renewable energy industry?

The aim of this Special Issue is to seek an in-depth understanding of the applications of renewable energy sources in buildings. Specifically, solicited studies about aspects of renewable energy sources in buildings include, but are not limited to:

• Renewable energy technologies;
• Green jobs creation from renewable energy;
• Renewable energy standards and policies;
• Capacity gaps assessment;
• Gender mainstreaming in renewable energy;
• Renewable energy indigenous knowledge/innovations;
• Renewable energy decision support systems;
• Renewable energy open data.

Dr. Henry Abanda
Dr. Ernest Acheampong
Mr. Kevin Enongene
Guest Editors

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