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Research on Energy Efficiency and Low-Carbon Pathways in Buildings
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Research on Energy Efficiency and Low-Carbon Pathways 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: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 2778

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Sikai Zou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, East China JiaoTong University, Nanchang 330013, China
Interests: building energy saving; integrated energy system; economic analysis; liquid cooling technologies; low-carbon buildings
Dr. Yantong Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Multi-Energy Complementary Distributed Energy Systems, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China
Interests: building energy system; solar energy; heat pump; thermal energy storage
Dr. Xiuming Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Liaoning Engineering Research Center of Process Industry Energy Saving and Low-Carbon Technologies, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Interests: building energy saving; air conditioning system control; data center cooling technologies; heat pipes

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The construction and operation of buildings account for a major part of global carbon emissions. In order to achieve sustainability in buildings, it is necessary to explore energy efficiency and low-carbon pathways. This Special Issue invites innovative research focusing on cutting-edge methods, technologies, and policies aimed at improving energy efficiency and promoting low-carbon development in buildings. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Building energy efficiency;
  • Integrated energy system in buildings;
  • Renewable energy sources utilization for buildings;
  • Energy demand reduction/management for buildings;
  • Urban energy systems;
  • Environment and buildings;
  • Low-carbon building materials;
  • Retrofit and refurbishment of existing buildings;
  • Lifecycle carbon analysis;
  • Economic analysis of low-/zero-carbon buildings;
  • Socio-economic and policy issues in low-/zero-carbon buildings;
  • Artificial intelligence for energy efficiency and low-carbon buildings.

We welcome contributions from multiple disciplinary perspectives and are committed to achieving the goal of carbon neutrality.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Sikai Zou
Dr. Yantong Li
Dr. Xiuming Li
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

  • building energy efficiency
  • renewable energy sources utilization
  • low-carbon buildings
  • lifecycle carbon analysis
  • socio-economic and policy issues in buildings
  • building system control and 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 (3 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1073 KB  
Article
Residential Indoor Humidity During Cooling Operation: Energy Benefits Without Compromising Comfort, Health, or Materials
by Nelson Fumo
Buildings 2025, 15(24), 4470; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15244470 - 10 Dec 2025
Viewed by 893
Abstract
Humidity control in residential buildings is fundamental to ensuring indoor comfort, health, and energy efficiency. This study evaluates the relationship between indoor relative humidity and its impacts on thermal comfort, HVAC energy performance, biological activity, and material durability during the cooling season. Through [...] Read more.
Humidity control in residential buildings is fundamental to ensuring indoor comfort, health, and energy efficiency. This study evaluates the relationship between indoor relative humidity and its impacts on thermal comfort, HVAC energy performance, biological activity, and material durability during the cooling season. Through literature and thermodynamic analysis, the results suggest that moderately higher RH levels to the common 50% recommended can improve thermal comfort and reduce cooling energy consumption without increasing health or material risks. The analysis concludes that humidity itself is not inherently detrimental; rather, condensation is the critical mechanism behind health and material degradation. Consequently, operating residential cooling systems within a controlled upper humidity at 60% offers measurable energy benefits while maintaining occupant well-being and building integrity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Energy Efficiency and Low-Carbon Pathways in Buildings)
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20 pages, 10035 KB  
Article
Zero-Carbon Parks’ Electric Load Forecasting Considering Feature Extraction of Multi-Type Electric Load and Dual-Layer Optimization Modal Decomposition
by Rui Shi, Jianyu Kou, Lei Guo, Shen Wei, Shuai Hu and Quan Zhang
Buildings 2025, 15(23), 4209; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15234209 - 21 Nov 2025
Viewed by 259
Abstract
The construction of zero-carbon parks has become an urgent priority. Electric load forecasting plays a decisive role in enabling the efficient operation of industrial parks; however, the complexity of electric load features within the parks has limited the accuracy of electric load forecasting. [...] Read more.
The construction of zero-carbon parks has become an urgent priority. Electric load forecasting plays a decisive role in enabling the efficient operation of industrial parks; however, the complexity of electric load features within the parks has limited the accuracy of electric load forecasting. A novel electric load forecasting framework with feature extraction (TPE-AVMD-BiLSTM with feature extraction) is proposed to improve the forecasting accuracy. This framework combines feature extraction, decomposition with TPE optimization, and BiLSTM prediction. Together, these components work to remove the influence of irrelevant or redundant features. To verify the superiority of the proposed model, ablation experiments were carried out. The annual hourly electric load (8760 h) of typical industries was predicted within the park, including a data center, chemical manufacturing company, residence, shopping mall, cement manufacturing plant, and hospital. The results showed that the proposed model achieved high accuracy for all typical industries (R2 > 0.9891, EMAE < 0.3714, ERMSE < 0.4694), indicating that the forecasting has excellent coverage performance. The performance of the proposed model over the feature-free baseline confirms that incorporating more correlated features enhances prediction stability. The framework presents a viable solution for achieving accurate electric load forecasting within zero-carbon parks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Energy Efficiency and Low-Carbon Pathways in Buildings)
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19 pages, 5914 KB  
Article
Valorization of Alkali–Thermal Activated Red Mud for High-Performance Geopolymer: Performance Evaluation and Environmental Effects
by Zhiping Li, Haifeng Dong, Yuwen Wang, Jianbing Men, Junqiang Wang, Xiushao Zhao and Sikai Zou
Buildings 2025, 15(14), 2471; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15142471 - 14 Jul 2025
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1160
Abstract
This study investigates the influence of SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratios (2.25–3.00) and the replacement of red mud (RM) with GGBS (50–63%) on the performance of RM-based geopolymers to address the environmental issues posed by RM, including its high alkalinity [...] Read more.
This study investigates the influence of SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratios (2.25–3.00) and the replacement of red mud (RM) with GGBS (50–63%) on the performance of RM-based geopolymers to address the environmental issues posed by RM, including its high alkalinity and heavy metal content. The results indicated that increasing the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio and incorporating GGBS reduced the fresh properties of the geopolymers. A higher SiO2/Al2O3 ratio promoted the development of compressive strength, likely due to the elevated concentration of soluble silicates. The RM-based geopolymers with higher GGBS content also exhibited greater compressive strength. Moreover, the drying shrinkage and water permeability of RM-based geopolymers increased as the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio and the GGBS content increased. The sustainability assessment revealed that CO2 emissions were influenced by the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio. In comparison to other RM-based geopolymers, the CO2 emissions and costs in this study were reduced by 13.13–44.33% and 3.64–39.68%, respectively. This study discusses the effects of the SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratios on the reaction process and strength formation mechanism of RM-based geopolymers, which provides an effective strategy for the resource utilization of RM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Energy Efficiency and Low-Carbon Pathways in Buildings)
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