Announcements

It is our pleasure to invite you to read the selected papers from the Editor’s Choice Articles in 2020–2021. The papers from the Section “Energy and Buildings” are listed below:

“A GIS-Based Procedure for Estimating the Energy Demand Profiles of Buildings towards Urban Energy Policies”
by Ferrari, S. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(17), 5445; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14175445
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/17/5445

“OMEGAlpes, an Open-Source Optimisation Model Generation Tool to Support Energy Stakeholders at District Scale”
by Hodencq, S. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(18), 5928; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14185928
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5928

“Development of an Integrated Performance Design Platform for Residential Buildings Based on Climate Adaptability”
by Li, Z.et al.
Energies 2021, 14(24), 8223; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14248223
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8223

“Parametric Design to Maximize Solar Irradiation and Minimize the Embodied GHG Emissions for a ZEB in Nordic and Mediterranean Climate Zones”
by Manni, M. et al.
Energies 2020, 13(18), 4981; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13184981
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/18/4981

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the research groups that submitted these exceptional papers for their contributions to Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). We would appreciate it if you would circulate this document among your colleagues or through your network.

More information about the contributions published in the Editor’s Choice Articles can be accessed at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies/editors_choice.

We are pleased to invite you to read papers from the Editor’s Choice Articles from 2020 and 2021. We have carefully curated a list of high-quality articles from the Section “Electrical Engineering”, which are listed below:

“Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles—A Brief Review of Current Topologies and Energy Management Strategies”
by Sorlei, I. S. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(1), 252; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14010252
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/1/252

“A Review of Deep Learning Techniques for Forecasting Energy Use in Buildings”
by Runge, J. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(3), 608; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030608
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/3/608

“Review of Multi Level Inverters for PV Energy System Applications”
by Bughneda, A. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(6), 1585; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14061585
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/6/1585

“Rotor Position Synchronization in Central-Converter Multi-Motor Electric Actuation Systems”
by Sikorski, A. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(22), 7485; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14227485
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/22/7485

“Comparison of Two Power Converter Topologies in Wind Turbine System”
by Sikorski, A. et al.
Energies 2021, 14(20), 6574; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14206574
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6574

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the research groups that submitted these exceptional papers for their contributions to Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). We would appreciate it if you would circulate this document among your colleagues or through your network.

More information about the contributions published in the Editor’s Choice Articles can be accessed at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies/editors_choice.

We are pleased to announce the winners of the Energies 2020 Best Paper Awards, sponsored by MDPI and Energies (ISSN: 1996-1073). Following a review process by the Evaluation Committee, fifteen papers were selected. The recipients are as follows:

Articles:

1^st place award: (CHF 1000 + one free publication + a certificate)

• “Analyzing Similarities between the European Union Countries in Terms of the Structure and Volume of Energy Production from Renewable Energy Sources”
  by Jarosław Brodny et al.

2^nd place awards: (CHF 600 + one free publication + a certificate)

• “High Reynold’s Number Turbulent Model for Micro-Channel Cold Plate Using Reverse Engineering Approach for Water-Cooled Battery in Electric Vehicles”
  by Satyam Panchal et al.
• “Investigation of Inorganic Phase Change Material for a Semi-Transparent Photovoltaic (STPV) Module”
  by Alagar Karthick et al.
• “Considerations on Potentials, Greenhouse Gas, and Energy Performance of Biofuels Based on Forest Residues for Heavy-Duty Road Transport in Sweden”
  by Shveta Soam et al.

3^rd place awards: (CHF 400 + one free publication + a certificate)

• “Characterization of Hybrid-nano/Paraffin Organic Phase Change Material for Thermal Energy Storage Applications in Solar Thermal Systems”
  by Manoj Kumar Pasupathi et al.
• “Snapshot of Photovoltaics—February 2020”
  by Arnulf Jäger-Waldau
• “The Importance of Renewable Energy Sources in Poland’s Energy Mix”
  by Renata Marks-Bielska et al.
• “Infectious Diseases, Market Uncertainty and Oil Market Volatility”
  by Elie Bouri et al.
• “Cost of Equity of Coal-Fired Power Generation Projects in Poland: Its Importance for the Management of Decision-Making Process”
  by Piotr W. Saługa et al.

Reviews:

1^st place award: (CHF 1000 + one free publication + a certificate)

• “Internet of Things (IoT) and the Energy Sector”
  by Naser Hossein Motlagh et al.

2^nd place awards: (CHF 600 + one free publication + a certificate)

• “A Review on Thermoelectric Generators: Progress and Applications”
  by Mohamed Amine Zoui et al.
• “Contributions and Risks of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Building Smarter Cities: Insights from a Systematic Review of the Literature”
  by Tan Yigitcanlar et al.

3^rd place awards: (CHF 400 + one free publication + a certificate)

• “Possibilities and Challenges for the Inclusion of the Electric Vehicle (EV) to Reduce the Carbon Footprint in the Transport Sector: A Review”
  by Aritra Ghosh
• “Energy and Climate Policy—An Evaluation of Global Climate Change Expenditure 2011–2018”
  by Coilín ÓhAiseadha et al.
• “A Review of The Methanol Economy: The Fuel Cell Route”
  by Samuel Simon Araya et al.

Please join us in congratulating the winners of Energies. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our authors for their continued support of Energies.

For more information about the Energies awards, please see the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies/awards.

The editorial team of Energies (ISSN: 1996-1073) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Outstanding Reviewer Award:

Name: Prof. Dr. Elena Lucchi
Affiliation: Eurac Research, Institute for Renewable Energy, Bolzano, Italy
Research Interests: energy efficiency; energy audit; building energy simulation; highly efficient materials; renewable energy sources; BIPV

Name: Prof. Dr. Marcin Dębowski
Affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Geoengineering, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Olsztyn, Poland
Research Interests: algae cultivation technologies; algae acquisition from natural water; algae biomass separation and dewatering; algae to biofuels; algae to valuable products; methane fermentation; biohydrogen, biodiesel, wastewater treatment; sludge management

Name: Dr. Miroslav Variny
Affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, 812 37 Bratislava, Slovakia
Research Interests: process modeling and intensification; energy auditing; carbon footprint reduction; refining and petrochemistry; renewables

Name: Dr. Piotr F. Borowski
Affiliation: Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
Research Interests: management and strategic management; power plants; sustainable development; eco-innovations; eco-efficiency; nexus water–energy–food; CO₂ emission reduction

Name: Dr. Vedran Mrzljak
Affiliation: Faculty of Engineering, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Research Interests: power plants; steam and gas turbines; internal combustion engines; marine power systems

The 2021 citation metrics have been released in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR), and we’re pleased to announce the following results for MDPI journals:

For more information on Impact Factors and what it means to index academic journals, please visit our related blog posts.

* Journals given their first Impact Factor in 2022

Source: 2021 Journal Impact Factors, Journal Citation Reports ^TM (Clarivate, 2022)

The Energies 2022 Travel Award closed for applications at the end of 2021. The applications were processed by the Evaluation Committee, led by the Editor-in-Chief of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073), Prof. Dr. Enrico Sciubba and we are pleased to announce the winners:

The winners will each be awarded CHF 800 and a certificate. On behalf of the Evaluation Committee, we would like to congratulate the winners on their accomplishments.

Conference: The 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022)
Date: 25–29 July 2022
Place: Montréal, Canada + Online

Buildings (ISSN: 2075-5309) will be attending the 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment as an exhibitor. This meeting will be held in Canada and online from 25 to 29 July 2022.

Concordia University is proud to host the 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022), providing a platform for discussing building energy and environmental issues in addition to initiating collaboration among researchers, environmental scientists, architects, facility managers, and policymakers. We look forward to welcoming you and having you experience the city’s unique culture and joie de vivre. There is a profusion of sights, sounds, and flavors to enjoy, all within reach of the convention venue. See you in Montréal!

The session topics covered will include the following:

• COVID-19, Pandemic, and Epidemic;
• Health and Indoor Air Quality, Ventilation;
• Thermal Comfort;
• Occupant-Centric Building Design and Controls;
• Building Renewables, Solar Buildings and Smart Grid;
• Urban Energy and Urban Microclimate;
• Wind Engineering, Aerodynamics and Urban Physics;
• Building Physics, Building Envelope and Materials;
• Thermal Storages;
• Smart Buildings and Smart Cities (Machine Learning, AI, IoT);
• Resilience and Climate Change;
• Building Mechanical System and Controls;
• Advanced Modeling and Building Simulations, CFD;
• Building Codes and Standards;
• Urban Green Infrastructure;
• Low / Zero Carbon Emission Buildings and Communities;
• Building Fire Safety.

The following MDPI journals will be represented:

• Buildings;
• Energies;
• Atmosphere;
• Environments;
• Smart Cities;
• Applied Sciences;
• Climate;
• Computation.

If you are attending this conference, please feel free to start an online conversation with us. Our delegates look forward to meeting you in person and answering any questions that you may have.

For more information about the conference and our booth, please visit the following link: https://www.cobee2022.org/index.html.

MDPI’s Young Investigator Awards recognize promising junior researchers, acknowledge their contributions, and enhance communication among scientists. We are proud to present the winners for the year 2021 in the “Environmental & Earth Sciences” category. The winners were selected by the journals’ editors.

We warmly congratulate the awarded young investigators for their outstanding contributions. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Atmosphere:

• Shaojie Song, Harvard University, USA

Clean Technologies:

• Francesco Galiano, Institute on Membrane Technology of the National Research Council, Italy

Energies:

• Qilin Wang, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
• Christopher H. T. Lee, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:

• Grace Vincent, Central Queensland University, Australia

Minerals:

• Antony Burnham, Australian National University, Australia

Remote Sensing:

• Celso Henrique Leite Silva Junior, National Institute for Space Research – INPE, Brasil; Agricultural Engineering Department of the State University of Maranhão – UEMA, Brazil

Sustainability:

• Baojie He, Chongqing University, China

Water:

• Stefanos Giannakis, Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain

In order to acknowledge our reviewers, who so generously dedicate their time to reviewing papers and demonstrate diligence, professionalism, and timeliness when reviewing manuscripts, MDPI journals regularly offer outstanding reviewer awards to scholars who participate in the peer-review process.

We are proud to recognize winners for the year 2021 in the “Environmental & Earth Sciences” category for their outstanding contributions among extensive competition by presenting them with an Outstanding Reviewer Award.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the winners on their achievement. MDPI will continue to provide support and recognition to the academic community.

Atmosphere:

• Hristo Chervenkov, National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bulgaria
• Jouni Räisänen, University of Helsinki, Finland

Climate:

• Piotr F. Borowski, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland

Energies:

• Elena Lucchi, Institute for Renewable Energy, Italy
• Marcin Dębowski, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland
• Miroslav Variny, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, Slovakia
• Piotr F. Borowski, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland
• Vedran Mrzljak, University of Rijeka, Croatia

Forests:

• Tomasz Oszako, Forest Research Institute, Poland
• Stelian Alexandru Borz, Transilvania University of Brasov, Romania
• Maricar Aguilos, North Carolina State University, USA
• Narayan Bhusal, Seoul National University, South Korea

Geosciences:

• Dave Waters, University of Oxford, UK

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:

• Anuli Njoku, Southern Connecticut State University, USA
• Haruna Musa Moda, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
• Jesús Molina-Mula, University of BalearicIsland, Spain
• Katharina Diehl, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
• Katarzyna Tomaszek, Pedagogical University of Kracow, Poland
• Matteo Nioi, University of Cagliari, Italy
• Pablo A. Cantero-Garlito, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, Spain
• Seoyong Kim, Ajou University, South Korea
• Andrzej Adamski, University of Information Technology and Management, Poland
• Adrian Curto, Faculty of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Spain
• Arkaitz Castañeda Babarro, University of Deusto, Spain
• Álvaro Francisco Lopes De Sousa, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal
• Agata Gabryelska, Medical University of Lodz, Poland
• Ana Reyes Menéndez, Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain
• Bartosz Dalewski, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Poland
• Chong Chen, Yamaguchi University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan
• Carla Maria Batista Ferreira Pires, CBIOS-Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias-Escola de Ciências e Tecnologias da Saúde, Portugal
• Claudia Pisanu, University of Cagliari, Italy
• Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, USA
• Faisal F. Hakeem, King’s College London, UK
• Francisco Javier Fernández Carrasco, Punta de Europa Hospital, Spain
• Haewon Byeon, Inje University, South Korea
• HuiJun Chih, Curtin University, Australia
• Jerónimo Aragón Vela, University of Granada, Spain
• Joana Costa, University of Aveiro, Portugal,
• Joanne Lloyd, University of Wolverhampton, UK
• José Luis Romero-Bejar, University of Granada, Spain
• Laura Nathans, Human Development and Family Studies, Penn State Scranton, USA
• Mateusz Jankowski, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Poland
• Matteo Riccò, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Italy
• Nicola Döring, Technische Universität Ilmenau, Germany
• Nora Suleiman-Martos, University of Granada, Spain
• Russell Kabir, Anglia Ruskin University, UK
• Roy McConkey, University of Ulster, UK
• Sunhee Kim, Ajou University, South Korea
• Sol García-Germán, Centro de Estudios e Investigación para la Gestión de Riesgos Agrarios y Medioambientalesdisabled, Spain
• Sebastian Rutkowski, Opole University of Technology, Poland
• Tamás Berki, University of Szeged, Hungary
• Terence Moriarty, University of Northern Iowa, USA
• Pedro Antonio Martín Cervantes, University of Almería, La Cañada de San Urbano, Spain

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information:

• Lemenkova Polina, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
• Andrew Newton, Nottingham Trent University, UK
• Dennis Edler, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
• Lukáš Herman, Masaryk University, Czech Republic
• Marcela Bindzarova Gergelova, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia

Land:

• Rahul Datta, Mendel University in Brno, Czech Republic
• Dirk H.R. Spennemann, Charles Sturt University, Australia
• Raimundo Jimenez-Ballesta, (Retired recently) Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain

Remote Sensing:

• Veraldo Liesenberg, Santa Catarina State University, Brazil
• Yady Tatiana Solano-Correa, University of Cauca, Colombia
• Francesco Marinello, University of Padova, Italy
• Pedro Melo-Pinto, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Portugal
• Ignacio Bosch, Universitat Politènica de València, Spain
• Juan Soria, University of Valencia, Spain
• Chiman Kwan, Signal Processing, Inc., USA
• Benoit Vozel, University of Rennes, France
• Giuseppe Casula, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Unit of Bologna, Italy
• Simone Cosoli, The University of Western Australia, Australia

Resources:

• Maria Economou-Eliopoulos, University of Athens, Greece

Toxics:

• Cynthia Rider, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, USA

We are proud to recognize the winners of MDPI’s 2021 Travel Awards in the “Environmental & Earth Sciences” category for their outstanding presentations and to present them with the prize.

MDPI journals regularly offer travel awards to encourage talented junior scientists to present their latest research at academic conferences in specific fields, which helps to increase their influence.

The winners mentioned below were carefully selected by the journal editors based on an outline of their research and the work to be presented at an academic conference.

We would like to warmly congratulate the Travel Awards winners for the year 2021 and wish them the greatest success with their future research endeavors. MDPI will continue to enhance communication among scientists.

Atmosphere:

• Charbel Harb, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, USA
• Jibran Khan, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark

Climate:

• Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
• Platon Patlakas, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece

Energies:

• Nnaemeka Vincent Emodi, University of Tasmania, Australia
• Irene Poza-Casado, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain

Forests:

• Pipiet Larasatie, Oregon State University, USA
• Tania L. Maxwell, French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), France

Hydrology:

• Georgia Papacharalampous, Roma Tre University, Italy
• Mattei Alexandra, University of Corsica, France

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health:

• Danila Azzolina, University of Eastern Piedmont, Italy
• Kelvin Fong, Yale University, USA
• Levi Frehlich, University of Calgary, Canada‎
• Garyfallos Konstantinoudis, Imperial College London, UK

ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information:

• Junghwan Kim, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA
• Xuke Hu, Institute of Data Science, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany

Land:

• Álvaro Castilla Beltrán, University of La Laguna, Spain
• Lauren Nerfa, University of Hawaiʻi, USA

Remote Sensing:

• Amen Al-Yaari, Sorbonne University, France
• Meng Lu, Utrecht University, Netherlands

Resources:

• Alessandro Lenci, University of Bologna, Italy
• Evangelia Georgantzia, Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Sustainability:

• Sayyed Rasoul Khayyam Nekouei, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia
• Georgia A. Papacharalampous, Roma Tre University, Italy
• Raquel Filipa da Costa Viveiros, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
• Rajesh Pathak, South Dakota State University, USA

Water:

• Nnanake-Abasi Okon Offiong, University of Uyo, Nigeria
• Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan, Polytechnic of Health, Indonesia
• Shawna Andrea Foo, Arizona State University, USA