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Buildings
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Advanced Technologies for Whole-Life Building Energy Efficiency
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Advanced Technologies for Whole-Life Building Energy Efficiency

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: closed (10 September 2023) | Viewed by 3337

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Rahul Ralegaonkar

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India
Interests: energy-efficient buildings; carbon-negative buildings; low-carbon construction techniques; life cycle assessment; sustainable construction materials
Dr. Ana Bras

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering and Built Environment, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
Interests: self-healing; bio-based materials; durability; performance-based design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Amardeep Singh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou, China
2. Research Group for Recycled Concrete Structure and Construction, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Interests: additive manufacturing; concrete technologies; concrete durability; concrete material technology; structural reliability; self-compacting concrete; low-carbon materials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The construction industry is currently facing global challenges, and the United Nations have also designed a few Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an attempt to solve these while tackling climate change and preserving natural resources. Energy consumption as well as carbon footprint over the building life cycle have been important to measure. Thus, advanced technologies are to be considered which can positively impact building performance along with a few other factors. These include reducing the use of carbon-intensive materials, implementing faster, sustainable, energy-efficient, and climate-resilient building techniques, and monitoring building performance related to energy consumption, embodied energy, and embodied carbon over the life cycle of a building.

The Special Issue “Advanced Technologies for Whole-life Building Energy Efficiency” focuses on research studies related to, but not restricted to, the following themes:

  • Climate-resilient construction.
  • Sustainable construction materials.
  • Rapid construction technologies.
  • Net zero energy buildings.
  • Embodied energy and embodied carbon.
  • Energy-efficient buildings.
  • Life cycle assessment.
  • Life cycle costing.

Prof. Dr. Rahul Ralegaonkar
Dr. Ana Bras
Dr. Amardeep Singh
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 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 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

  • LCA
  • net zero
  • sustainability
  • energy efficiency
  • rapid technologies

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6249 KiB  
Article
Life Cycle Assessment of a Sustainable Prefabricated Housing System: A Cradle-to-Site Approach Based on a Small-Scale Experimental Model
by Ravijanya Chippagiri, Divyajyoti Biswal, Sachin Mandavgane, Ana Bras and Rahul Ralegaonkar
Buildings 2023, 13(4), 964; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040964 - 04 Apr 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1582
Abstract
India is in need of rapid construction technology with sustainability and environmentally friendly aspects. Prefabrication is a well-known technique that lowers carbon emissions and reduces environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluates these impacts of developed product/process. A new-age construction product was designed [...] Read more.
India is in need of rapid construction technology with sustainability and environmentally friendly aspects. Prefabrication is a well-known technique that lowers carbon emissions and reduces environmental impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluates these impacts of developed product/process. A new-age construction product was designed from a locally available agro-industrial waste called co-fired ash (CFA). Expanded polystyrene beads, fly ash, and crushed sand were also used in designing lightweight (LW) sustainable prefabricated panels. The effect of incorporating sustainable alternates into the mix designs is to be studied. An experimental small-scale model house was erected and LCA for the same was carried out with cradle-to-site approach. Based on the inventory, the environmental impact was assessed for four different indicators: acidification potential (AP), eutrophication potential (EP), global warming potential (GWP), and ozone depletion potential (ODP) were evaluated. Carbon emissions of the respective CFA-based concrete and LW prefabricated mix were found to be 0.162 kgCO2e/kg and 0.268 kgCO2e/kg, respectively. The impact of energy required during production, transport, and indirect emissions were found to contribute 3%, 3%, and 94%, respectively, to the proposed prefabricated system. Comprehensively, the phase involving mixing of LW mix contributed majorly towards all the impact indicators followed by mould preparation and material transport. The presented data helps the academia to quantify and recognise the possibilities to enhance their products’ performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies for Whole-Life Building Energy Efficiency)
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21 pages, 16886 KiB  
Article
Microstructure Properties of Popular Alkali-Activated Pastes Cured in Ambient Temperature
by Muralidhar Kamath, Shreelaxmi Prashant and Rahul Ralegaonkar
Buildings 2023, 13(4), 858; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040858 - 24 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1343
Abstract
This paper reported on the micro-level properties of alkali-activated pastes cured in ambient conditions. The mechanisms influencing setting time and the microstructure development of fly ash, slag, and metakaolin were studied. The mortar compressive strength of the binders and their ultrasonic pulse velocity [...] Read more.
This paper reported on the micro-level properties of alkali-activated pastes cured in ambient conditions. The mechanisms influencing setting time and the microstructure development of fly ash, slag, and metakaolin were studied. The mortar compressive strength of the binders and their ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) were tested after 56 days of ambient curing. The micro-level properties of paste cured at ambient conditions for seven days were determined to understand the phases developed. NASH gel was observed to delay setting and possessed lower compressive strength, while CASH gel was set early and possessed high compressive strength. The micro-characterisation of the alkali-activated binder system developed with fly ash and metakaolin showed the presence of NASH gel. The alkali-activated binder system developed with GGBS contained multiple gels, such as N, C-ASH, and CSH. The molecular structures of CSH, CASH, NASH, and N, C-ASH are also presented and were obtained using high score plus software. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Technologies for Whole-Life Building Energy Efficiency)
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