Research on the Environmental Impact throughout the Life Cycle of Buildings
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 March 2026 | Viewed by 23
Special Issue Editors
Interests: life cycle assessment; building decarbonisation; building design; digital technologies; off-site construction
Interests: construction and demolition (C&D) waste; recycled concrete and sustainability.
Interests: life cycle energy; recycled concrete; sustainability
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The building and construction sector is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, resource consumption, and waste generation. As the world transitions toward sustainable development and decarbonization, understanding and mitigating the environmental impacts of buildings throughout their entire life cycle has become more critical than ever. This Special Issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research on assessing, reducing, and managing the environmental impacts of buildings from cradle to grave—including design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and end-of-life stages. We welcome contributions that advance the scientific understanding, methodologies, and practical applications related to life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon footprint analysis, circular economy approaches, sustainable construction materials, and innovative building technologies.
Topics of interest may include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Whole life cycle assessment (LCA) of buildings;
- Embodied carbon and operational carbon analysis;
- Advances in LCA databases, tools, and methodologies for buildings;
- Life cycle energy and resource consumption;
- Integration of renewable energy systems in buildings and their life cycle impacts;
- Environmental impacts of construction materials and products;
- Circular economy strategies in the built environment;
- Waste minimization and construction demolition waste management from a life cycle perspective;
- Design for deconstruction, reuse, and recycling;
- Carbon reduction strategies in building design and construction;
- Innovations in sustainable construction practices and materials;
- Policy frameworks and regulations influencing life cycle impacts;
- Case studies of low-carbon or net-zero buildings;
- Integration of LCA with building information modelling (BIM);
- Digital technologies supporting life cycle environmental analysis (e.g., BIM, digital twins);
- Environmental impacts of off-site, modular, and prefabricated construction;
- Environmental trade-offs between different materials and construction techniques.
Dr. Yijun Zhou
Dr. Mingxue Ma
Dr. Lei Liu
Dr. Linna Geng
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. 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
- life cycle assessment (LCA)
- embodied carbon
- operational carbon
- environmental impact assessment
- circular economy in construction
- sustainable building materials
- decarbonization of buildings
- building sustainability
- design for disassembly
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