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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2022) | Viewed by 14852

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Prof. Dr. Ahmad Taki

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Guest Editor

Leicester School of Architecture, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
Interests: building performance and sustainability; energy and indoor climate; computer simulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Generally, energy usage in buildings is responsible for approximately 45% of carbon dioxide emissions. A significant fraction of this energy is consumed to provide comfortable, habitable, conditions indoors. In many countries, the prevailing climate frequently leads to the use of technological themes that are recognised as energy-intensive solutions for providing such good indoor air quality and thermal comfort. Buildings are the largest contributor to climate change. Fears about climate change/global warming have added urgency to the search for methods not only to improve energy efficiency in buildings but also to satisfy the social–cultural needs of communities in different contexts, ensuring sustainable outcomes.

Among these techniques are the use of computer simulation and the development of research methodologies in the built environment aimed at improving alignment between buildings, contexts, climates, and energy performance.

Considering the importance of building performance and sustainability, Sustainability has decided to dedicate a Special Issue to bringing together manuscripts that focus on this research theme.

For this Special Issue on “Advances on Building Performance and Sustainability” in Sustainability, we are looking for original articles that address the following topics:

The approach towards improving energy efficiency in buildings;
The impact of retrofit pathways on building performance analysis;
Computer simulation to evaluate building performance in terms of lighting, energy consumption, and comfort;
Case studies that cover various research methodological approaches with an emphasis on the social–cultural needs of the local community or the social–environmental interface of sustainable development purposes;
The impact of research on the quality of life and well-being of buildings’ occupants.

Original papers that address other related topics with evidence of contribution to the state of the art are also welcome.

Prof. Dr. Ahmad Taki
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. 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.

Keywords

building performance and sustainability
energy and indoor climate
social sustainability
computer simulation
case studies
research methodology

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

31 pages, 11423 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A New Framework for Sustainable Resilient Houses on the Coastal Areas of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam

by Ahmad Taki and Viet Ha Xuan Doan

Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7630; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137630 - 22 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2721

Abstract

With the impacts of tropical storms on Vietnam’s residences, the aim of the study is to produce a new framework for designing sustainable resilient houses in Vietnam’s coastal areas. This study was based on the community’s need to develop a set of guidelines for improving the stability of domestic buildings in storm-prone areas. It also addresses some unresolved issues including storm-proofing techniques and sustainable development in coastal dwellings. The main findings of this study were defined by the use of mixed-method approaches. These research methods involved observational surveys, questionnaires, interviews, case studies, and computer simulations. Particularly, the case studies were simulated by the use of computational fluid dynamics to mimic the storm impacts on existing buildings. These concentrated on the solutions, techniques, benefits, and challenges of sustainable resilience in coastal residences. The results are presented by a framework for designing a sustainable resilient house and a prototype was also tested. Both the framework and the prototype can satisfy the community demands by making energy-efficient buildings and effective wind mitigation guiding other research about developing sustainable and resilient houses in the future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Building Performance and Sustainability)

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30 pages, 4762 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Toward Energy-Efficient Houses Considering Social Cultural Needs in Bahrain: A New Framework Approach

by Ahmad Taki and Bilal Alsheglawi

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6842; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116842 - 03 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3397

Abstract

The residential buildings in Bahrain represent approximately 76% of the total buildings and account for 50% of the nation’s overall energy consumption. Air conditioners account for over 70% of the electricity used in a typical Bahraini house. To date, no comprehensive study has been carried out on the energy efficiency of houses considering building envelopes, design, and social cultural needs in hot, humid regions with reference to Bahrain. This paper aims to develop and test a framework for energy-efficient houses that satisfies social cultural needs using mixed research methods. These research methods involved measurements of environmental parameters and observational surveys of 20 private houses. Additionally, a survey questionnaire was conducted with 111 householders to collect data on design preferences, thermal comfort, and energy consumption. Further, semi-structured interviews with 18 professionals were conducted and a range of simulations were carried out on a typical private house. Consequently, the framework was developed in three stages: data collection and analysis, specification of an energy-efficient building design satisfying social cultural needs, and producing a prototype model. Simulation results showed that the prototype house model can reduce energy consumption by 57% and operative temperature by 4 °C in comparison to the existing case study. The prototype model ensured privacy by adding two shaded corner courtyards and directing all the bedroom windows to face the courtyard. Feedback on the prototype was gathered to create a new and improved iteration of the future housing model. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Building Performance and Sustainability)

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16 pages, 293 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Commitment Indicators for Tracking Sustainable Design Decisions in Construction Projects

by Mustafa S. Al-Tekreeti, Salwa M. Beheiry and Vian Ahmed

Sustainability 2022, 14(10), 6205; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14106205 - 19 May 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1492

Abstract

The construction industry is considered one of the largest contributors to climate change through its consumption of natural resources and generation of greenhouse gases. Much of this can be attributed to inadequate decision making and follow-up within construction companies. To mitigate this problem, considerable research on Sustainable Development (SD) reports on decision support systems have been developed in order to make sound decisions with respect to the environment. Nonetheless, and despite the availability of such tools, these systems fail to track the commitment to SD decisions and goals during the different phases of construction projects in general and the design phase in particular. As such, this study identified three standard SD indicators: waste reduction, energy consumption, and carbon emissions as the main contributors, and developed the framework to track the project stakeholders’ commitment to the relevant SD indicators during the project design phase. The developed framework was validated via an expert panel and used to create a Sustainable Development Commitment Tracking Tool (SDCTT-D). The SDCTT-D tool was also applied in an infrastructure project case study. The results of this study gauged the usability of the developed tool and corroborated the research premise. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Building Performance and Sustainability)

18 pages, 1367 KiB

Open AccessArticle

“Values, Challenges, and Critical Success Factors” of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in Malaysia: Experts Perspective

by Yasser Yahya Al-Ashmori, Idris Othman and Al-Hussein M. H. Al-Aidrous

Sustainability 2022, 14(6), 3192; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14063192 - 09 Mar 2022

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3489 | Correction

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) plays a major role in enhancing the building project process. However, BIM implementation in building projects has not been categorized, and no previous investigation of its value in the different building project types has been undertaken. This research intended to evaluate BIM implementation in building projects and to identify its values, challenges, and enablers. Experts from BIM consultancy organizations were the respondents in this study. Based on nine interviews and 26 responses to a structured questionnaire, a quantitative approach to the content validity method was adopted. The results reveal that BIM implementation in mid- and low-rise buildings is very low. Only top organizations are able to implement BIM in their projects. Experts suggested that local organizations are not able to implement BIM due to their inability to adopt the BIM system as a digital management process throughout the project life cycle. In addition, there was consensus agreement based on the Content Validity Ratio (CVR) that BIM adds significant value to building projects, which includes providing collaborative organizations, greater communication, increased client satisfaction, more cost-savings, increased productivity, and a new way of reasoning for projects. This research also identified 20 challenges and 45 enablers of BIM implementation in mid- and low-rise building construction by the local firms. From the result, it was found that the presented variables were reliable, as reported in the interview transcripts and based on the majority of experts’ opinions. This research provides an important list of challenges and success factors that need to be considered to overcome the critical issue of low BIM implementation in building projects. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Building Performance and Sustainability)

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21 pages, 800 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Framework for Assessing Commitment Indicators in Sustainable Development Decisions

by Mustafa S. Al-Tekreeti, Salwa M. Beheiry and Vian Ahmed

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5234; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095234 - 07 May 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2424

Abstract

Numerous decision support systems have been developed to address the decision-making process in organizations. However, there are no developed mechanisms to track commitment down the line to the decisions made by corporate leaders. This paper is a portion of a study that establishes a framework for a comprehensive metric system to assess commitment to Sustainable Development (SD) decisions down the line in capital projects, and sets the groundwork for further development of performance indicators for SD outcomes. This ultimately leads to investigating the relationship between commitment to corporate decisions and better project performance in SD parameters. Hence, this study explores the literature to extract relevant parameters that reflect the degree of the project participants’ commitment to SD decisions and to develop commitment indicators. The study created then validated an index to track this commitment along the project stages: the Sustainable Development Commitment Tracking Tool (SDCTT). The SDCTT was tested on an infrastructure project case study. In this paper, techniques relevant to the first stage of projects (planning and definition) are presented. The SDCTT is the groundwork for the future development of performance indicators for SD outcomes, and within the postulated model should ultimately contribute towards reducing project waste, energy use, and carbon emissions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Building Performance and Sustainability)

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