Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.4
3.1
Journals
Buildings
Special Issues
Synergistic Interactions Between Urban Climate and Building Energy System
share announcement

Synergistic Interactions Between Urban Climate and Building Energy System

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 1873

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lin Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: urban climatic modeling; carbon neutrality scenario prediction; environmental suitability assessment; urban smart energy management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Qing Wu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shenyang Jianzhu University, Shenyang, China
Interests: urban climate; pollutant dispersion; sustainable green technology; outdoor thermal comfort
Dr. Puning Xue

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: district heating and cooling; smart heating; building energy system; integrated energy system; system simulation and operation optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the face of the huge threats posed by global climate change to human society and the ecosystem, the national strategy of "carbon peak and carbon neutrality" emerged. Cities are confronted with multiple challenges such as frequent extreme weather events, increasing energy demand and rising pressure on environmental sustainability. Especially, urban climate continuously influences the supply and demand balance of urban energy systems and presents temporal and spatial heterogeneity due to the complicated functions and layouts of local-scale urban areas. Urban energy consumption and the corresponding carbon emissions, in turn, have also exacerbated urban climate changes such as global warming and urban heat islands. The coupling and interactions between energy-system optimization and climate-resilient urban construction have become a key factor in promoting urban sustainability.

Aiming at the goals of exploiting urban energy-saving potentialities, constructing climate-resilient cities and achieving carbon neutrality, this Special Issue welcomes all advanced mathematical descriptions, prediction technologies and optimization strategies of the synergistic interactions between urban climate and energy systems at multiple temporal–spatial scales, including but not limited to, the following topics:

  • Multi-scale urban climatic modeling.
  • Impacts of urban complex elements on urban wind and thermal environment, e.g., anthropogenic heat, blue and green space, building envelope characteristics and spatial layouts.
  • Climate-related building energy-saving potential.
  • Urban energy-system optimization in response to climate change.
  • Local climate zone-based building energy consumption assessment.
  • Multi-scale urban carbon-emission accounting regarding urban climate data.
  • Spatial interactions between urban energy systems and urban climate indicators.
  • Urban carbon-neutrality scenario prediction.
  • Association analysis between urban climate change and social–economic systems.
  • other new technologies in urban climate change, energy optimization and management and economical analysis, etc.

Dr. Lin Liu
Dr. Qing Wu
Dr. Puning Xue
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Buildings 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

  • urban climate
  • local climate zone
  • urban thermal environment
  • building energy consumption
  • energy-saving potential
  • building integrated photovoltaics
  • urban photovoltaic system
  • carbon emissions and carbon neutrality
  • energy supply and demand
  • synergistic optimization

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

22 pages, 3221 KB  
Article
A Hybrid PSO-GWO-BP Predictive Model for Demand-Driven Scheduling and Energy-Efficient Operation of Building Secondary Water Supply Systems
by Shu-Guang Zhu, Jing-Wen Yu, Xing-Zhao Wang, Bang-Wu Deng, Shuai Jiang, Qi-Lin Wu and Wei Wei
Buildings 2026, 16(9), 1785; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16091785 - 30 Apr 2026
Viewed by 240
Abstract
Accurate forecasting of water demand enables optimized peak-load management, alleviating pressure during high-demand periods and improving the operational efficiency of urban secondary water supply systems—a critical component in the energy-efficient and sustainable operation of buildings. However, existing water demand prediction methods in some [...] Read more.
Accurate forecasting of water demand enables optimized peak-load management, alleviating pressure during high-demand periods and improving the operational efficiency of urban secondary water supply systems—a critical component in the energy-efficient and sustainable operation of buildings. However, existing water demand prediction methods in some regions suffer from low accuracy and excessively long prediction cycles, posing challenges for real-time water scheduling in building-scale systems. To address these challenges, this study develops a hybrid predictive framework that integrates a BP neural network with the Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms for enhanced parameter optimization. Using hourly water consumption data from a representative residential district, the proposed model is compared against standalone machine learning models—Extreme Learning Machines (ELM), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). Model performance is rigorously evaluated using the coefficient of determination, mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), root mean square error (RMSE), and Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE). The PSO-GWO-BP hybrid model achieves a predictive accuracy of 97.06%, yielding the lowest MAE, MSE, RMSE, and MAPE, as well as the highest R among all models considered, thereby significantly outperforming the benchmark standalone models. Furthermore, the high-precision short-term prediction outputs enable dynamic regulation of secondary water tank refill thresholds, facilitating refined water allocation and enhanced operational management of building water supply systems. These findings demonstrate the considerable application potential of the proposed hybrid model in enhancing both water resource efficiency and energy utilization performance in the daily operation of green buildings, providing reliable technical support for intelligent and low-carbon building water supply management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synergistic Interactions Between Urban Climate and Building Energy System)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 6652 KB  
Article
Urban Expansion and Photovoltaic Land-Use Conflict in the Yangtze River Delta: A Spatiotemporal Assessment and Multi-Scenario Projection
by Yucheng Huang, Haifeng Xu, Huaizhao Ruan and Xinmu Zhang
Buildings 2026, 16(8), 1524; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16081524 - 13 Apr 2026
Viewed by 339
Abstract
Rapid urban expansion and the growing spatial requirements of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) deployment compete for the same category of land—flat, accessible, and high-insolation terrain—yet the scale, trajectory, and planning-sensitivity of this conflict remain poorly characterised at the regional level. This study quantifies the [...] Read more.
Rapid urban expansion and the growing spatial requirements of utility-scale photovoltaic (PV) deployment compete for the same category of land—flat, accessible, and high-insolation terrain—yet the scale, trajectory, and planning-sensitivity of this conflict remain poorly characterised at the regional level. This study quantifies the spatiotemporal competition between urban construction land and PV-suitable land in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2000 to 2020 and projects its evolution to 2030 under three development scenarios. Built-up areas were extracted for three epochs using a Random Forest (RF) classifier on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, achieving overall accuracies of 87.7–94.5% and Kappa coefficients of 0.718–0.739. PV site suitability was evaluated through a hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework combining Boolean exclusion constraints with an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)-based Weighted Linear Combination model; the weight structure was validated by a Consistency Ratio of 0.006, and a One-At-a-Time sensitivity analysis confirmed spatial robustness across threshold scenarios. Spatial overlay analysis reveals that the cumulative area of PV-suitable land occupied by urban built-up uses grew from 15,862 km2 in 2000 to 23,872 km2 in 2020, representing an incremental loss of 8010 km2 over two decades. Future conflict was projected using the PLUS model, calibrated on 2010–2020 observed expansion and validated against the 2020 classified map (OA = 93.99%, Kappa = 0.91). Under the Business-as-Usual (BAU) scenario, 33,368 km2 of currently open PV-suitable land faces urban encroachment by 2030; the Ecological Conservation Priority (ECP) scenario reduces this figure to approximately 30,767 km2, while the Economic Development (ED) scenario yields a near-identical outcome to BAU, indicating that development velocity alone does not determine the spatial extent of conflict—the allocation of growth does. These findings provide a quantitative basis for designating energy-strategic reserve zones within national spatial planning frameworks and demonstrate that targeted spatial governance, applied at high-pressure locations, can substantially slow the erosion of the region’s solar energy land base. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synergistic Interactions Between Urban Climate and Building Energy System)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

35 pages, 16949 KB  
Article
Bottom-Up Approach to Spatial–Temporal Mapping of Urban Community-Scale Carbon Emissions: A Case Study in Guangzhou, China
by Lin Liu, Zefeng Liang, Hanwen Zhang, Jing Liu, Qing Wu and Shiping Chen
Buildings 2026, 16(5), 1075; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16051075 - 8 Mar 2026
Viewed by 458
Abstract
This study develops a bottom-up carbon emission accounting framework at the urban community scale and applies it to 642 communities in Guangzhou, China, using the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification. Carbon emissions from buildings, transportation, water use, waste, and urban road lighting, together [...] Read more.
This study develops a bottom-up carbon emission accounting framework at the urban community scale and applies it to 642 communities in Guangzhou, China, using the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification. Carbon emissions from buildings, transportation, water use, waste, and urban road lighting, together with green space carbon sinks, are quantified to establish a high-resolution spatiotemporal emission dataset. The results show that total community-scale carbon emissions range from 0 to 5852.88 tCO2, with building-related emissions dominating the carbon footprint and accounting for approximately 75% of the total emissions, followed by water use (15%) and waste (8%), while transportation and road lighting together contribute less than 3%. Building and transportation emissions exhibit pronounced temporal variability, with citywide building emissions peaking at 21:00 (994.6 tCO2 h−1). Strong spatial heterogeneity is observed across LCZ types and administrative districts. LCZ1 records the highest total emissions (60,401.71 tCO2), whereas LCZ6 exhibits substantially lower emissions due to greater green space coverage. Spatial autocorrelation analysis reveals significant clustering of high-emission communities (Global Moran’s I = 0.2486, p < 0.0001), indicating an outward diffusion of carbon emissions from central urban areas. These findings demonstrate the role of building energy use in carbon emissions and validate LCZ-based bottom-up accounting for mitigation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synergistic Interactions Between Urban Climate and Building Energy System)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 6662 KB  
Article
Impact of Urban Surface Characteristics on Surface Energy Balance and CO2 Flux Based on Eddy Covariance Measurements: A Case Study of Hefei, China
by Taotao Shui, Jianfei You, Yuxuan Li, Xu Geng, Jinlong Chu, Shaojie Zhang and Tieqiao Xiao
Buildings 2026, 16(4), 801; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings16040801 - 15 Feb 2026
Viewed by 443
Abstract
Observations of energy and carbon dioxide fluxes in the urban centres of rapidly developing countries remain limited. In this study, one year of eddy covariance measurements was conducted in the city centre of Hefei to investigate how underlying urban surfaces and human activities [...] Read more.
Observations of energy and carbon dioxide fluxes in the urban centres of rapidly developing countries remain limited. In this study, one year of eddy covariance measurements was conducted in the city centre of Hefei to investigate how underlying urban surfaces and human activities influence surface energy and carbon dioxide fluxes. A strong correlation was observed between net radiation and sensible heat flux, with both fluxes being significantly lower in winter. Abundant summer precipitation substantially enhanced latent heat flux. Anthropogenic heat flux and storage heat flux ranged from 30 to 350 W m−2 and from −100 to 350 W m−2, respectively. Improved energy balance closure was generally associated with more unstable atmospheric conditions, while increased urban surface heterogeneity was linked to poorer closure. Traffic was identified as a major contributor to carbon dioxide emissions, with annual emissions reaching 12.73 kg CO2 m−2 yr−1 in the city centre. Carbon dioxide fluxes were significantly higher in winter and slightly lower on weekends compared to weekdays. In addition, the increasing adoption of new energy vehicles (NEVs) has contributed to a reduction in urban CO2 fluxes. Overall, human activity in urban centres substantially enhances anthropogenic heat release and carbon dioxide emissions, thereby intensifying urban heat island effects and carbon emissions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Synergistic Interactions Between Urban Climate and Building Energy System)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-4
Back to TopTop