Sustainable Solutions for Energy Demand and Comfort Optimization in 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: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 65
Special Issue Editors
Interests: building energy efficiency; building energy simulation; urban building energy modeling; building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV); geographic information systems (GISs); building energy retrofit; life cycle assessment (LCA); sustainable building materials
Interests: ecodesign; biophilic design; innovative technologies; biobased materials; nanotechnologies; comfort indoor
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The building sector remains a major contributor to global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. According to the IEA, buildings accounted for 30% of global final energy use in 2022, rising to 35% when including embodied energy from construction. Despite advances in technology, stricter energy codes, and substantial public investments, current efforts remain insufficient to meet net-zero targets by 2050. Notably, while heating demand has declined, cooling-related energy use is increasing due to global warming and the widespread adoption of mechanical systems.
This Special Issue aims to explore sustainable and innovative approaches and technical solutions supporting the decarbonization of the building sector and the development of low-carbon human settlements. For this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of contributions addressing the dual challenge we face today: in developed regions, the focus lies on energy upgrading and retrofitting existing buildings; in developing regions, rapid urbanization demands sustainable strategies for new constructions, often in environmentally sensitive areas.
Special attention will be paid to climate-vulnerable zones such as the Mediterranean and tropical regions, where environmental and demographic pressures are particularly acute. Contributions may come in the form of original research or review papers addressing energy efficiency, architectural integration of renewables, circular construction practices and sustainable materials, regulatory frameworks, and the socio-environmental implications of low-carbon built environments.
Dr. Federica Zagarella
Dr. Federica Fernandez
Dr. Elvira Nicolini
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
- building energy demand simulation
- building energy optimization
- comfort indoor
- smart building
- energy efficiency
- sustainable materials
- life cycle assessment
- low-carbon construction
- positive buildings
- green building
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