Special Issue "Sustainable Design and Construction"

Guest Editor
Dr. Behzad Sodagar
Lincoln School of Architecture, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, Lincoln LN6 7TS, UK
Website: http://www.lincoln.ac.uk/architecture/staff/470.asp
E-Mail: bsodagar@lincoln.ac.uk
Phone: +44 1522 837141
Interests: building performance analysis: lighting, solar, thermal and air flow; in situ thermal measurements and monitoring; post occupancy evaluation; sustainable planning and development; whole life cycle assessment of buildings; development of interactive design tools; renewable energy technology; carbon foot-printing; eco-refurbishment/conversion; low impact construction materials and techniques including crop based materials; aesthetic/design implications of environmental design

Dear Colleagues,

This co-special issue, a joint initiative by Buildings and Sustainability Journals, brings together current thinking and research on how the construction industry could achieve a sustainable built environment in an innovative and cost effective way.  The special issue is a response to the growing concerns about environmental impacts of the built environment and the urgent need for identification and development of innovative strategies and solutions for reducing our ecological footprint.

The special issue argues that in order to achieve truly sustainable buildings we need to adopt a balanced view to address all aspects of sustainability namely social, economic and environmental sustainability. It also discusses how we may achieve best practice through a holistic approach that considers all stages of building procurement, from early design stage to end of life. Contributors from architecture, planning and engineering (both academia and practice) provide a wide-ranging discussion on sustainable urban planning, design and construction. The papers submitted to this especial issue are of interest to all those involved in activities across the built environment and related sectors.

Dr. Behzad Sodagar
Guest Editor

Related Special Issues in Other Journals

• Sustainable Design and Construction in Buildings

Submission

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. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as 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 refereed through a 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 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 800 CHF (Swiss Francs).

• sustainable design and construction
• low carbon design
• autonomous buildings
• innovative construction techniques
• intelligent technologies
• sustainable sourcing of materials
• renewable energies
• whole life cycle analysis
• carbon footprint
• eco-refurbishment
• design for sustainable deconstruction
• comfort
• sustainable neighbourhoods and cities

Title: Parametric Study of Effect of Thermal Mass, Window Size and Night-Time Ventilation on Peak Indoor Temperature in the Warm-Humid Climate of Ghana
Authors: Samuel Amos-Abanyie^1,*, Fred Ohene Akuffo² and Victor Kutin-Sanwu¹
Affiliation: ¹College of Architecture and Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; E-Mail: sumwelamos@yahoo.com
²College of Engineering; Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana
Abstract: The cooling load imposed by solar radiation on office buildings consists mainly of transmission through the building envelope. Ideally, the selection of materials and design minimizes the cooling load. Most office buildings in the warm-humid sub-Saharan countries experience high cooling load because of the predominant use of sandcrete blocks which is of low thermal mass in construction and extensive use of glazing. Relatively low night temperatures are not harnessed in cooling buildings because office openings remain closed after work hours. A numerical model serving as a base model was developed based on the characteristics of Ghanaian mode of office building design using the Energy Plus (E+) simulation software. An optimization was performed through a sensitivity analysis based simulation with peak indoor temperature as the criteria. An experimental system was designed based on the parameters of the optimized model, constructed and monitored, and the experimental data used to validate the simulation model. The results show that an optimization of thermal mass and window to floor ratio coupled with activation of night-time ventilation provides a synergistic effect to ensure the lowest indoor temperature. An equation that predicts Temperature Difference Ratio (TDR) as a function of the Window to Floor Ratio (WFR) has been derived for the heavy weight thermal mass models that can be used to predict the indoor maximum temperature when outdoor maximum and minimum temperatures, or daily temperature swing are known.
Keywords: thermal mass; night-time ventilation; peak indoor temperature; Ghana