Use of Composite Materials towards Sustainable and Energy Efficient Building Design

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainability must be understood holistically across all disciplines for the most significant impact, rather than being limited to building services and energy output. Hence, there is a profound need to understand how we can integrate sustainability with the energy efficiency of buildings. The construction industry is one of the most energy-intensive in the world, accounting for 40% of total energy consumption and 36% of CO₂ emissions. Furthermore, approximately 35% of existing buildings are more than 50 years old and are desperately in need of rehabilitation. It is time for the embodied carbon generated during building construction to be considered, with only a few points available in traditional certification schemes (such as Greenstar), for using less carbon-intensive materials. It is ultimately the responsibility of civil engineers to show that more should be done to integrate sustainable practice into engineering projects. It is the sole responsibility of construction engineers to actively discuss solutions to reduce carbon footprints with architects and clients. The primary goal of this Special Issue is to provide owners, designers, contractors, and facility managers with the opportunity to explore sustainable construction practices and energy-efficient building design using modern composite materials. This Special Issue will also address the construction materials and methods used to make building and infrastructure projects more sustainable and energy-efficient, and also aims to collect the results of research and practice experiences in sustainable and energy-efficient buildings, and other relevant topics. This Special Issue serves as an international forum for the presentation and discussion of recent advances in sustainable and energy-efficient construction practices and their applications. The modeling, testing, and practice of conventional structures, as well as concrete- and steel-based composite structures for sustainable construction in life-cycle assessments (LCA), are among the subjects covered in this Special Issue. Original high-quality articles dealing with all aspects of sustainable and energy-efficient construction and research, including modeling, tests, and construction activities, which include but are not limited to material properties, component designs, assemblages, connections, structural behaviors, and other relevant topics, will be considered for publication. Dr. Roy, Dr. Ananthi, and Dr. Fang warmly invite authors to submit their papers for potential inclusion in this Special Issue of “Use of Composite Materials towards Sustainable and Energy Efficient Building Design”, in the journal “Sustainability”.

Dr. Krishanu Roy
Dr. G. Beulah Gnana Ananthi
Dr. Zhiyuan Arthur Fang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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.

• use of FRP and GFRP as modern construction materials
• use of bamboo, straw bales, recycled plastics, and reclaimed wood/steel/concrete in construction
• eco-building materials revolutionizing home construction
• sustainable building materials for home construction
• smart materials in construction
• wall panels, tiles, and window-sheathing membranes using solar energy
• biopolymers as a corrosion inhibitor in concrete
• green composite materials: biocompatibility, self-healing, repair properties
• sustainable, energy-saving coating materials
• proposal of new technologies to reduce the energy demand
• planning and design of the sustainable building
• building and living environment
• bio and healthy building research
• energy use and climate
• sustainable urban development
• energy efficiency of hybrid cold-formed steel sections
• sustainability and life-cycle assessment of buildings
• energy efficiency of houses made of steel
• lightweight housing using steel and composite structures
• innovative construction systems using lightweight materials for sustainability
• concrete/steel as a recyclable material
• sustainable materials
• whole-of-life embodied carbon
• operational energy