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Enhanced Building Energy Performance through Materials Innovation

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 4246

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
ITM, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Interests: building sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Smart Sustainable Cities, Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands
Interests: energy efficiency; sustainable energy; energy policy and management; smart sustainable cities

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to 2019 UN estimations, 77% of the world’s GDP is produced in cities, which consume 71% of the global energy production. If we add to that the indirect energy consumption related to human inhabitants in cities, the figure rises to 82% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Therefore, ensuring an efficient use of energy in urban environments could contribute from 10% to 30% of the expected carbon reduction for the world in the next 5 years.

This key objective for the world is to be achieved in green buildings through an efficient use of energy mainly related to innovative building materials and their re-engineering. The purpose of this Special Issue is to concentrate on the most relevant enhancements proposed by new approaches to building materials, their processing, and complete lifecycle re-design. The expected scope includes all relevant approaches, namely concentrating on:

  • Phase-changing materials (PCMs) and their integration in building envelopes;
  • Cellular materials and their functional development;
  • Natural renewable materials engineered for long durability and a negative carbon impact;
  • Hybrid materials design for shape and functional enhancement;
  • Multilayered solutions for enhanced structural materials;
  • Bio-inspired materials innovation;
  • 3D-printed building solutions for multifunctional performance;
  • Sandwich materials as integrated solutions;
  • Thin-films and inkjet-printed design of e-functionalities on advanced materials processing to building materials;
  • Passive design of building subsystems;
  • Modular construction and circularity;
  • Building materials reuse and reconditioning—from waste to value;
  • Assessment of materials’ impact on building certification and carbon reduction.

This Special Issue is expected to bring together existing innovations on materials and their technology for a multidisciplinary approach to the future green building construction.

Dr. Javier Orozco-Messana
Dr. Martijn Rietbergen
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. 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

  • PCM
  • cellular materials
  • bio-inspired design
  • hybrid design
  • materials functionalization
  • environmental impact
  • indoor air quality
  • building energy assessment tools
  • building circularity
  • building certification

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 4238 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation of Thermal Storage Performance of Different Concrete Floors
by Yudi Wang and Guoqiang Xu
Sustainability 2022, 14(19), 12833; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141912833 - 8 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1627
Abstract
To improve the utilization rate of energy, the consumption of fossil energy must be reduced. In this study, a low-temperature radiant floor made of concrete is taken as the research object, and a two-dimensional low-temperature hot water radiant heating system with different concrete [...] Read more.
To improve the utilization rate of energy, the consumption of fossil energy must be reduced. In this study, a low-temperature radiant floor made of concrete is taken as the research object, and a two-dimensional low-temperature hot water radiant heating system with different concrete filling layers is numerically simulated using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and finite element method. In this numerical model, a concrete sensible heat storage (SHTES) is adopted, while various types of concrete materials have been used to preliminarily analyze the influence of different concrete types on floor heat storage. The simulation results were further analyzed to determine the total heat storage during the heating period and the total heat storage and heat storage rate during the stable operation stage. The results demonstrate that the thermal conductivity coefficient of concrete floors had the most significant influence on the heat storage effect, with slag concrete demonstrating the most prominent heat storage effect. The total heat storage capacity of slag concrete after 7 h was 848.512 J. Overall, this study proposes a method to enhance the heat storage capacity of low-temperature radiant floors, while providing a design method for future solar energy storages and floor heat storages. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Building Energy Performance through Materials Innovation)
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12 pages, 2753 KiB  
Article
City Regeneration through Modular Phase Change Materials (PCM) Envelopes for Climate Neutral Buildings
by Javier Orozco-Messana, Vicente Lopez-Mateu and Teresa M. Pellicer
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8902; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148902 - 20 Jul 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1918
Abstract
Climate change is driving urban development policies for nearly all cities, which are responsible for over 40% carbon emissions in the world. UN SDG 11 (“Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”) defines critical indicators focused on carbon footprint reduction [...] Read more.
Climate change is driving urban development policies for nearly all cities, which are responsible for over 40% carbon emissions in the world. UN SDG 11 (“Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”) defines critical indicators focused on carbon footprint reduction through green policies and city heritage preservation. Urban regeneration should ensure climate comfort for citizens while enhancing legacy urban resilience. New solutions for urban regeneration such as Phase Change Materials (PCMs) provide inexpensive energy adaption solutions by reducing peak thermal loads, and their market share is growing yearly by 16% (OECD market trends). However, these materials must be integrated into recyclable flexible building elements to ensure tailored responses to different seasons and climates. Modular PCM elements working together with Passive Haus techniques have demonstrated their flexibility. This paper presents a new, efficient, and sustainable modular solution for PCM-based building envelope regeneration projects implemented jointly with Passive Haus strategies and Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) at street level. The efficiency of the proposed strategy is demonstrated though a simplified Digital Twin of the Benicalap neighbourhood in Valencia, Spain. The model simulates the climate evolution at the neighbourhood level, and can be used in any urban background to obtain a new carbon footprint which is then used as the main criterion for joint impact assessment of the proposed modular PCM-based building envelopes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Building Energy Performance through Materials Innovation)
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