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Energies
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Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings
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Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2025 | Viewed by 6474

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Xiaoshu Lu

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
1. Civil Engineering, Aalto University, P.O.Box. 11000, FIN-02130 Espoo, Finland
2. Energy Technologies, University of Vaasa, P.O.Box 700, FIN-65101 Vaasa, Finland
Interests: energy efficient low carbon buildings; heat recovery technologies; demand control ventilation; heat and moisture transfer in buildings; indoor air quality; renewable energies; thermal energy storage; unconventional energy (gas hydrate; oil shale); smart cities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Qunli Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Beijing 100044, China
Interests: zero carbon building; energy efficiency building; phase change material for thermal storage; urban energy system; heating with renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a call for submissions for a Special Issue of the journal "Energies" on the topic of "Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings." This Special Issue aims to address the significant challenges and advancements in building energy consumption, carbon emission reduction, renewable energy deployment, and digitalization in the context of improving environmental quality.

In recent years, the focus on sustainable and energy-efficient buildings has intensified. It is crucial to explore innovative approaches, technologies, and strategies that can minimize energy consumption, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance the environmental performance of buildings. Additionally, the digitalization of building systems and processes has emerged as a promising avenue for optimizing energy usage and improving overall sustainability.

The Special Issue invites original research papers, review articles, and case studies that encompass a broad range of topics related to energy consumption and environmental quality in buildings. Potential themes of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Building energy consumption analysis and optimization techniques.
  • Energy-efficient building design and retrofitting strategies.
  • Integration of renewable energy systems in buildings.
  • Smart and digital technologies for energy management and control.
  • Life cycle assessment and environmental impact analysis of buildings.
  • Indoor environmental quality and occupant comfort.
  • Policy frameworks and regulations promoting sustainable buildings.
  • Energy performance modeling and simulation tools.
  • Case studies on successful energy reduction initiatives in buildings.
  • Innovative approaches for monitoring and reducing carbon emissions.

We invite researchers, practitioners, and experts from various disciplines to contribute to this Special Issue by submitting their original work. Manuscripts should be submitted online through the journal's submission system, adhering to the guidelines provided on the journal's website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been previously published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, except in the case of conference proceedings papers. All submissions will undergo a rigorous peer-review process, ensuring high scientific standards and relevance to the Special Issue's theme.

Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal as soon as they are accepted, and they will be listed together on the Special Issue's website. Energies is an international, peer-reviewed, open-access journal published by MDPI, ensuring wide visibility and accessibility of the published research.

We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions and to creating a comprehensive Special Issue that advances our understanding of energy consumption and environmental quality in buildings. Should you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Prof. Dr. Xiaoshu Lu
Prof. Dr. Qunli Zhang
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. Energies 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 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 consumption
  • environmental quality
  • building energy efficiency
  • carbon emissions
  • renewable energy deployment
  • digitalization
  • sustainable buildings
  • energy management
  • indoor environmental quality

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 17547 KiB  
Article
Proposal of Three Methods for Deriving Representative Mean Radiant Temperatures Considering Zone Spatial Distributions
by Sung-Jin Kwon, Jae-Hun Jo and Dong-Seok Lee
Energies 2024, 17(20), 5221; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17205221 - 20 Oct 2024
Viewed by 846
Abstract
Mean radiant temperature (MRT), which is a crucial factor for thermal comfort, varies within a space. This renders deriving the representative values for radiant heating and cooling control challenging. This study reviewed existing methods for deriving MRT in previous research and addressed their [...] Read more.
Mean radiant temperature (MRT), which is a crucial factor for thermal comfort, varies within a space. This renders deriving the representative values for radiant heating and cooling control challenging. This study reviewed existing methods for deriving MRT in previous research and addressed their limitations by proposing a method for determining a representative MRT value. The existing methods were categorized as air temperature, single location, and area weighted. Three methods for deriving representative MRT values were proposed, considering the building’s usage, scale, and applicable system installations. The proposed methods were categorized as single-zone averaged, multi-zone averaged, and point-zone MRT. Experiments were conducted by distinguishing cases based on the control of equipment systems during heating and cooling periods. During the cooling season, the single-zone averaged MRT and air temperature differed by up to 4 °C, and the difference between the multi-zone averaged MRT and MRT at a point in the perimeter zone reached up to 7 °C. During the heating season, the single-zone averaged MRT and air temperature differed by up to 2.2 °C. Thus, the results of this study emphasize the importance of applying different methods of deriving representative MRT values depending on the size and usage of the building, and demonstrate that this facilitated more effective heating and cooling control systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings)
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36 pages, 10504 KiB  
Article
BIM Integration with XAI Using LIME and MOO for Automated Green Building Energy Performance Analysis
by Abdul Mateen Khan, Muhammad Abubakar Tariq, Sardar Kashif Ur Rehman, Talha Saeed, Fahad K. Alqahtani and Mohamed Sherif
Energies 2024, 17(13), 3295; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17133295 - 4 Jul 2024
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2601
Abstract
Achieving sustainable green building design is essential to reducing our environmental impact and enhancing energy efficiency. Traditional methods often depend heavily on expert knowledge and subjective decisions, posing significant challenges. This research addresses these issues by introducing an innovative framework that integrates building [...] Read more.
Achieving sustainable green building design is essential to reducing our environmental impact and enhancing energy efficiency. Traditional methods often depend heavily on expert knowledge and subjective decisions, posing significant challenges. This research addresses these issues by introducing an innovative framework that integrates building information modeling (BIM), explainable artificial intelligence (AI), and multi-objective optimization. The framework includes three main components: data generation through DesignBuilder simulation, a BO-LGBM (Bayesian optimization–LightGBM) predictive model with LIME (Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations) for energy prediction and interpretation, and the multi-objective optimization technique AGE-MOEA to address uncertainties. A case study demonstrates the framework’s effectiveness, with the BO-LGBM model achieving high prediction accuracy (R-squared > 93.4%, MAPE < 2.13%) and LIME identifying significant HVAC system features. The AGE-MOEA optimization resulted in a 13.43% improvement in energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and thermal comfort, with an additional 4.0% optimization gain when incorporating uncertainties. This study enhances the transparency of machine learning predictions and efficiently identifies optimal passive and active design solutions, contributing significantly to sustainable construction practices. Future research should focus on validating its real-world applicability, assessing its generalizability across various building types, and integrating generative design capabilities for automated optimization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings)
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24 pages, 4470 KiB  
Article
Sensitivity Assessment of Building Energy Performance Simulations Using MARS Meta-Modeling in Combination with Sobol’ Method
by Amin Nouri, Christoph van Treeck and Jérôme Frisch
Energies 2024, 17(3), 695; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17030695 - 31 Jan 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1355
Abstract
Large discrepancies can occur between building energy performance simulation (BEPS) outputs and reference data. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses are performed to discover the significant contributions of each input parameter to these discrepancies. Variance-based sensitivity analyses typically require many stochastic simulations, which is computationally [...] Read more.
Large discrepancies can occur between building energy performance simulation (BEPS) outputs and reference data. Uncertainty and sensitivity analyses are performed to discover the significant contributions of each input parameter to these discrepancies. Variance-based sensitivity analyses typically require many stochastic simulations, which is computationally demanding (especially in the case of the large number of input parameters involved in the analysis). To overcome these impediments, this study proposes a reliable meta-model-based sensitivity analysis, including validation, Morris’ method, multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) meta-modeling, and Sobol’ method, to identify the most influential input parameters on BEPS prediction (annual energy consumption) at the early building design process. A hypothetical building is used to analyze the proposed methodology. Six statistical metrics are applied to verify and quantify the accuracy of the model. It is concluded that the cooling set-point temperature and g-value of the window are the most influential input parameters for the analyzed case study. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings)
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Review

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24 pages, 1564 KiB  
Review
Application of Mixed-Mode Ventilation to Enhance Indoor Air Quality and Energy Efficiency in School Buildings
by Christopher Otoo, Tao Lu and Xiaoshu Lü
Energies 2024, 17(23), 6097; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17236097 - 4 Dec 2024
Viewed by 846
Abstract
Indoor air quality and energy efficiency are instrumental aspects of school facility design and construction, as they directly affect the physical well-being, comfort, and academic output of both pupils and staff. The challenge of balancing the need for adequate ventilation to enhance indoor [...] Read more.
Indoor air quality and energy efficiency are instrumental aspects of school facility design and construction, as they directly affect the physical well-being, comfort, and academic output of both pupils and staff. The challenge of balancing the need for adequate ventilation to enhance indoor air quality with the goal of reducing energy consumption has long been a topic of debate. The implementation of mixed-mode ventilation systems with automated controls presents a promising solution to address this issue. However, a comprehensive literature review on this subject is still missing. To address this gap, this review examines the potential application of mixed-mode ventilation systems as a solution to attaining improved energy savings without compromising indoor air quality and thermal comfort in educational environments. Mixed-mode ventilation systems, which combine natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation, provide the versatility to alternate between or merge both methods based on real-time indoor and outdoor environmental conditions. By analyzing empirical studies, case studies, and theoretical models, this review investigates the efficacy of mixed-mode ventilation systems in minimizing energy use and enhancing indoor air quality. Essential elements such as operable windows, sensors, and sophisticated control technologies are evaluated to illustrate how mixed-mode ventilation systems dynamically optimize ventilation to sustain comfortable and healthy indoor climates. This paper further addresses the challenges linked to the design and implementation of mixed-mode ventilation systems, including complexities in control and the necessity for climate-adaptive strategies. The findings suggest that mixed-mode ventilation systems can considerably lower heating, ventilation, and air conditioning energy usage, with energy savings ranging from 20% to 60% across various climate zones, while also enhancing indoor air quality with advanced control systems and data-driven control strategies. In conclusion, mixed-mode ventilation systems offer a promising approach for school buildings to achieve energy efficiency and effective ventilation without sacrificing indoor environment quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Energy Consumption and Environmental Quality in Buildings)
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