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The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges

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A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Climatology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 10393

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Marco Ferrero

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Interests: architectural engineering; building performances; regenerative design; stone materials; architectural heritage renovation; building information modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The built environment has a great responsibility with respect to the grand climate challenges we are currently facing. An increasing proportion of the world’s growing population is living in cities, which are facing great pressures and expanding. The built environment consumes almost half of the total energy requirements, and thus largely contributes to greenhouse gases emissions, aggravating climate change and other more local phenomena such as the urban heat island effect. The construction industry is responsible for almost half of total raw material consumption.

The most immediate direction that can be taken is to reduce this consumption. However, this is not sufficient, and the challenges faced by researchers and professionals in the field of the built environment cannot be reduced to this mere action.

Indeed, a preferable and more up-to-date approach consists of exploring the potential of the built environment to meet the challenges posed by climate change, in order to mitigate them and adapt to them. This must be done in a multidisciplinary manner, with a view to the bigger picture. In essence, this Special Issue proposes a different perspective, which considers the current situation but also future projections, in order to adapt to the challenging future, boosting an innate resilience in our built environment. We aim to identify and implement strategies to deal with the effects that will inevitably result from the above-mentioned challenges. Additionally, it is crucial to do this while considering the conditions of the actual built environment, what we experience around us, and the restrictions that derive from its features, as a base for the conscious and effective implementation of any intervention strategy.

Prof. Dr. Marco Ferrero
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. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

sustainable built environment
climate adaptation
regenerative design
complexities and uncertainties
architectural engineering
architectural and urban design
waste management
built heritage
innovative construction components
building energy performance and retrofit
citizens’ involvement
green and blue solutions

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4472 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Numerical and Experimental Analysis of an Earth–Air Heat Exchanger

by Carlos Henrique Diedrich, Gerson Henrique dos Santos, Gustavo Chaves Carraro, Victor Vaurek Dimbarre and Thiago Antonini Alves

Atmosphere 2023, 14(7), 1113; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14071113 - 5 Jul 2023

Viewed by 1445

Abstract

Buildings are responsible for a large part of energy demand worldwide. To collaborate to reduce this demand, this paper aims to present a computational model to analyze the performance of an earth–air heat exchanger (EAHE) based on computational fluid dynamics using the ANSYS/Fluent^® software in the simulations. This passive air conditioning system uses the soil as a heat exchanger, taking advantage of the fact that the temperature of the soil at a certain depth remains relatively constant, regardless of the weather conditions above the surface, promoting heating, cooling, or ventilation for buildings. The air temperature values obtained were compared with experimental data from sensors installed in an EAHE at the Federal University of Technology—Parana, Ponta Grossa/Brazil (25.1° South, 50.16° West) to validate the computational model. A high computational effort would be demanded to perform these simulations involving the whole soil domain and the climatic boundary conditions. In order to optimize the numerical analysis of EAHE, two reduced models for the soil and heat exchanger domains were verified. First, a constant temperature of 23.7 °C was imposed on the surface of the exchanger tube, corresponding to the average soil temperature at a depth of 1.5 m. Afterward, a reduced soil domain extending 0.5 m in all directions from the heat exchanger serpentine was considered. Likewise, constant temperatures were imposed on the upper and lower surfaces of the soil domain, also obtained experimentally. In both cases, the temperature values obtained through the fast simulations showed good agreement compared to the experimental values. Barely explored in the literature, the thermal behavior of the two identical indoor environments at the university was also compared, in which the climatized environment, with the EAHE working in a closed loop, obtained milder and smaller amplitude air temperatures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges)

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18 pages, 13714 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Landscape as a Palimpsest for Energy Transition: Correlations between the Spatial Development of Energy-Production Infrastructure and Climate-Mitigation Goals

by Gianni Lobosco, Lorenzo Tinti, Beatrice Magagnoli, Vittoria Mencarini, Simona Mannucci and Marco Ferrero

Atmosphere 2023, 14(6), 921; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14060921 - 24 May 2023

Viewed by 968

Abstract

The spatial footprint of energy infrastructures requires a re-evaluation of design and planning processes, especially in relation to the sustainable development goals enshrined in the United Nations 2030 Agenda. This study investigates the Ravenna area (Italy)’s transition potential towards renewable energy sources, considering their spatial interaction with the landscape and the environment. The primary objective is to identify the opportunities and limitations associated with each type of renewable energy production and provide indications for the strategic actions needed to achieve total emissions reduction by 2050. The methodology applied involves several steps to compare both the efficiency and the spatial arrangements of alternative mono-energy scenarios over time. In order to manage the uncertainty inherent in technological development and the variability of territorial policies, the study puts forward the hypothesis of a mixed strategy capable of structuring the energy transition on the specificities of the local landscape palimpsest by identifying location criteria and related impacts. The research demonstrates how site-specific assessments are important to inform resilient strategic choices, and provide decision-makers and stakeholders with data and spatialized representations of future scenarios to discuss and share. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges)

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19 pages, 4193 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Cooling Effects of Landscape Configurations of Green–Blue Spaces in Urban Waterfront Community

by Min Wang, Haoyang Song, Wen Zhu and Yuncai Wang

Atmosphere 2023, 14(5), 833; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14050833 - 5 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2097

Abstract

Optimizing the configuration of green–blue spaces is crucial in mitigating the urban heat island effect. However, many existing studies neglect to consider the synergistic cooling effect of green–blue space and its spatial comparison, focusing instead on individual ecological elements of green space or water bodies. Additionally, the relative importance of different configuration indicators and their marginal effects on the cooling effect of green–blue space remain unclear, with an identified need for the quantification of indicator thresholds for maximizing the cooling effect. To address these gaps, this study investigated green–blue spaces in 30 urban waterfront communities located in Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, China, and measured the scale, distribution, morphology, green–blue relationship, and built environment of these spaces. To determine the cooling effect, maximum air temperature and mean cold island intensity were measured using ENVI-met simulations. Correlation analyses and boosted regression trees (BRT) were utilized to identify the configuration indicators that affect the cooling effect and their action threshold. The results show that green space distribution and water body shape are the most important features affecting the maximum air temperature, with green space patch density (PD) and water landscape shape index (LSI) contributing 21.3% and 20.9% to the reduction in temperature, while the thresholds are 550 and 4.2, respectively. The contribution of green–blue space percentage is critical in raising urban cold island intensity, with threshold effects at 43%. These findings provide practical guidance for the efficient exploitation of the synergistic cooling effects of green–blue space and enhancement of climate resilience in coastal cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges)

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17 pages, 2733 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Thermal Comfort in the Built Environment: A Digital Workflow for the Comparison of Different Green Infrastructure Strategies

by Stefano Cascone and Alessia Leuzzo

Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 685; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040685 - 5 Apr 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2410

Abstract

The green transformation of the built environment is aimed at improving sustainability and can be supported by digitalization, which has become a significant tool to support the supply, integration, and management of information throughout the construction life cycle. In addition, climate change highly affects human comfort in the built environment and different strategies should be evaluated for adapting cities. This paper developed a digital workflow by integrating existing tools (i.e., Grasshopper, Ladybug, Honeybee, and Dragonfly) to evaluate how different green infrastructure strategies affected the thermal comfort by reducing the UTCI. The workflow was applied to a typical historical urban context (Catania, South of Italy), consisting of a square surrounded by three-floor buildings. Three basic scenarios were created that depended on the pavement material used in the built environment: a black stone pavement (reference material from Mount Etna), a permeable pavement, and grass. These three scenarios were combined with different green infrastructure strategies: tree pattern on the square, green walls and green roofs on the surrounding buildings, and the integrations of all these above-mentioned strategies. The results demonstrated that the integration of different green strategies (a grass square instead of pavement, with trees, and green walls and green roofs) increased the thermal comfort by reducing the UTCI by more than 8 °C compared to the existing urban context (black stone pavement and building envelope). However, this temperature reduction was highly affected by the location of the human body into the urban context and by the evaporation rates from vegetation. The workflow developed will be useful for designers to evaluate the effectiveness of different green strategies during the early-design stage in mitigating and adapting cities to climate change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges)

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17 pages, 5940 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Retrofit Optimization by Means of Genetic Algorithms as an Answer to Fuel Poverty Mitigation in Social Housing Buildings

by Adriana Ciardiello, Jacopo Dell’Olmo, Marco Ferrero, Lorenzo Mario Pastore, Federica Rosso and Ferdinando Salata

Atmosphere 2023, 14(1), 1; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14010001 - 20 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1537

Abstract

In accordance with national regulations, the renovation of the residential sector is an urgent task for achieving significant reductions in energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of the existing building stock. Social housing is particularly in need of such interventions, given the higher vulnerability of its inhabitants and its crucial role in furthering social welfare and environmental sustainability objectives. Both passive and active strategies have proved their efficacy in advancing towards these goals and also in mitigating increasing fuel poverty in low-income families. However, to optimize the best combination of such retrofit strategies, advanced optimization methodologies can be applied. Here, a multi-objective optimization methodology is implemented by a genetic algorithm (aNSGA-II) coupled to EnergyPlus dynamic energy simulations. Then, the energy consumption of the optimal solution is considered by means of EnergyPLAN simulations for the further application of active strategies. The two-step method is tested on a relevant case study, a social housing building in Rome, Italy. Results show that the applied method reduced the energy demand by 51% with passive strategies only. Active strategy implementation allowed for a further reduction of 69% in CO₂ emissions and 51% in energy costs. The two-step method proved effective in mitigating fuel poverty and decarbonizing the residential sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges)

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23 pages, 7361 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Thermal Storage Wall Heating System of Traditional Houses in Cold Climate Zone of China: A Case Study in Southern Shaanxi

by Shuo Chen, Simin Yang, Wensheng Mo, Bart J. Dewancker, Jing Mao and Jie Chen

Atmosphere 2022, 13(12), 2049; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13122049 - 7 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1217

Abstract

Solar energy has the advantages of being green, renewable, and energy-efficient. The use of solar energy in buildings can result in significant energy savings, and a great deal of practical and theoretical research has been conducted on solar buildings around the world. Southern Shaanxi belongs to a climate zone with hot summers and cold winters (HSCW). The mean room temperature is 4 °C, and it is lower than 2 °C at night, which greatly exceeds the thermal comfort range that the human body can bear. Aiming at a range of challenges including backward heating methods and low heating efficiency in southern Shaanxi, a fully passive thermal storage wall heating system (TSWHS) is proposed for traditional houses in the area. The specific method is to set up a thermal storage wall (TSW) outside the outer walls on the east, west, and south sides of the residential buildings. The wall is provided with an air exchange port, and there is no glass in the outer area of the doors and windows, which does not affect the normal application. The principle is that after the TSW receives solar radiation, the temperature of the internal HDPE (high-density polyethylene) and the air inside the cavity rises, which raises the interior temperature via the heat transfer and the air exchange port inside the TSW. The hot air inside the thermal wall achieves the purpose of heating. Lastly, through a comparison with the original heating system (OHS), it is confirmed that the TSWHS has certain practicability. According to an experimental simulation, the system can increase the indoor temperature by an average of 5.1 °C in winter and save about 1726.43 kWh of energy, accounting for 27.24% of the energy saving. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Potential of the Built Environment in Climate-Related Challenges)

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