Distributed Renewables for Climate-Responsive Buildings and Cities
A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 12
Special Issue Editors
Interests: building simulation; urban climate; thermal comfort; district energy system
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: low-energy and zero-energy buildings; building integrated renewable energy systems; advanced energy conversion; hybrid energy storage technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: flexible energy building; PV-integrated building; AI-driven low-carbon urban energy planning; data-driven smart city
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Recently, the deployment of distributed renewable energy systems has accelerated, providing extensive opportunities to create climate-responsive built environments. This Special Issue will explore the important nexus of distributed renewables, building energy systems, and urban climate dynamics in defining future sustainable cities.
This Special Issue seeks contributions that examine how distributed renewable systems can improve building performance and urban climate resilience through integrative approaches. Topics of interest include advanced building energy management via renewables, demand response for energy flexibility, peer-to-peer energy trading frameworks, and district-scale integration strategies. A special focus is also placed on studies that explore bidirectional climate–energy interactions: how urban environment microclimates influence distributed energy performance and how renewable deployment interacts with urban heat islands and potential climate change. We strongly encourage research on climate-adaptive strategies, data-driven optimization, and innovative building–grid interactions that transform buildings into active participants in climate mitigation while providing reliable energy services.
We invite original research, case studies, and review articles from researchers and practitioners to advance our understanding of the role of distributed renewables in the creation of climate-responsive buildings and cities. Your contributions will play a role in facilitating the future of sustainable urban energy systems.
Potential topics may include the following:
- AI-driven optimization of distributed renewable energy systems;
- Building-integrated photovoltaics and their interaction with urban microclimates;
- Advanced peer-to-peer energy trading platforms;
- Climate-adaptive demand response strategies;
- Urban heat island mitigation through distributed energy deployment;
- Energy storage integration in climate-responsive buildings;
- Impacts of urban climate on distributed energy planning;
- Green infrastructure–renewable energy synergies for climate regulation;
- Extreme weather resilience of distributed renewable systems;
- Digital twins for urban energy–climate system modeling;
- Renewable microgrids for resilient neighborhoods;
- Climate-responsive building energy management systems;
- Community solar gardens and social equity;
- Grid-interactive efficient buildings with renewable integration;
- Climate risk assessment for distributed energy infrastructure.
You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Buildings.
Dr. Pengyuan Shen
Dr. Yuekuan Zhou
Dr. Yi Zhang
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. Energies 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
- distributed renewable energy
- climate-responsive buildings
- urban energy systems
- building-to-grid integration
- energy resilience
- climate change
- demand response
- peer-to-peer energy trading
- urban microclimate
- climate resilience
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