energies-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Thermal Behaviour, Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Sustainable Construction: 4th Edition

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2025 | Viewed by 4021

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, energy and sustainability are two of the major concerns of humankind. Given the relevant energy consumption share of the buildings sector, it is very important to search for innovative design solutions and for the optimal thermal performance of buildings in order to reduce energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining the comfort levels of the occupants. Additionally, given the environmental burdens of the construction sector, seeking more environmentally responsible processes and a more efficient use of resources is currently attracting more attention.

This Special Issue is dedicated to the analysis of the recent advances on the following topics: (1) the thermal behaviour improvement of a building’s elements (e.g., walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, etc.); (2) energy efficiency in buildings; and (3) sustainable construction. All types of the following research approaches are acceptable: experimental, theoretical, numerical, analytical, computational, case studies, and their combinations. The main criteria for paper acceptance are academic excellence; scientific soundness; and the originality and novelty of applications, methods, fundamental findings, or experiments.

The Special Issue will include the following topics:

  • Thermal behaviour improvement of a building’s components (e.g., walls, floors, roofs, windows, doors, etc.);
  • Thermal bridges assessment and mitigation;
  • Energy efficiency in buildings;
  • Thermal inertia increase techniques (e.g., use of PCMs—phase change materials);
  • Building location and climate—air temperature, solar radiation, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, ground temperature, daylight hours, and so on;
  • Building envelope—air tightness, thermal insulation, glazed openings, shading, and so on;
  • Building services—appliances, illumination, heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, heat recover, hot water production, and so on;
  • Human factors—occupancy schedule, utilization type, internal heat gains, and so on;
  • Passive heating and cooling techniques—natural ventilation, solar heat gains, Trombe walls, ground source heat exchangers, and so on;
  • Renewable energy sources for building applications—solar collectors for domestic hot water production, photovoltaic solar panels, wind turbines, and so on;
  • Optimization of thermal behaviour and of energy efficiency of buildings;
  • Environmental life-cycle assessment of buildings and building components;
  • Life-cycle cost assessment of buildings and building components;
  • Building’s operational and embodied energy.

Dr. Paulo Santos
Guest Editor

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.

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.

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

26 pages, 11632 KiB  
Article
Lumped-Parameter Models Comparison for Natural Ventilation Analyses in Buildings at Urban Scale
by Yasemin Usta, Lisa Ng, Silvia Santantonio and Guglielmina Mutani
Energies 2025, 18(9), 2352; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18092352 - 4 May 2025
Viewed by 358
Abstract
This study validates a three-zone lumped-parameter airflow model for Urban Building Energy Modeling, focusing on its accuracy in estimating air change rates caused by natural ventilation, referred to here as air change rate. The model incorporates urban-scale variables like canyon geometry and roughness [...] Read more.
This study validates a three-zone lumped-parameter airflow model for Urban Building Energy Modeling, focusing on its accuracy in estimating air change rates caused by natural ventilation, referred to here as air change rate. The model incorporates urban-scale variables like canyon geometry and roughness elements for the accurate prediction of building infiltration, which is an important variable in building energy consumption. Air change rate predictions from the three-zone lumped-parameter model are compared against results from a three-zone CONTAM model across a range of weather scenarios. The study also examines the impact of building level of detail on air change rates. Results demonstrate that the three-zone lumped-parameter model achieves reasonable accuracy, with a maximum Mean Absolute Error of 0.1 h−1 in winter and 0.03 h−1 in summer compared to three-zone CONTAM model, while maintaining computational efficiency for urban-scale energy consumption simulations. However, its applicability is limited to buildings within urban canyons rather than detached structures, due to the assumptions made in the methodology of the three-zone lumped-parameter model. The results also showed that the model had lower errors for low to mid-rise buildings since the simplification of a detailed high-rise building into a three-zone model alters the buoyancy effect; a 4-story building showed Mean Absolute Percentage Error of 7% and 5% for a typical winter and summer day respectively when a detailed and simplified three-zone models are compared, while the error for a 16-story building were 18% and 12%. The results of building air change rates are used as input data in an hourly energy consumption model at urban scale and validated against measured hourly consumption to test the effect of the calculated urban-scale hourly air change rates. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

32 pages, 25127 KiB  
Article
Envelope Deficiencies and Thermo-Hygrometric Challenges in Warehouse-Type Buildings in Subtropical Climates: A Case Study of a Nori Distribution Center
by Yue Xu, Hiroatsu Fukuda, Xindong Wei and Tingting Yin
Energies 2024, 17(20), 5192; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17205192 - 18 Oct 2024
Viewed by 905
Abstract
Enhancing the energy efficiency and climate resilience of existing buildings is crucial amid growing environmental challenges. While extensive research has focused on non-residential buildings, studies on thermo-hygrometric conditions in warehouse-type buildings, particularly in subtropical climates, remain limited. This study investigated the impact of [...] Read more.
Enhancing the energy efficiency and climate resilience of existing buildings is crucial amid growing environmental challenges. While extensive research has focused on non-residential buildings, studies on thermo-hygrometric conditions in warehouse-type buildings, particularly in subtropical climates, remain limited. This study investigated the impact of building envelope deficiencies on indoor thermal and moisture regulation at the Nori Distribution Center. Using infrared thermal imaging and long-term environmental monitoring, significant thermo-hygrometric fluctuations were identified, primarily due to design and construction deficiencies. Poor insulation, inadequate sealing, and the lack of moisture barriers contributed to unstable indoor temperature and humidity. Seasonal analysis showed that during summer, the median second-floor air temperature reached 28.8 °C, peaking at 39.2 °C, with relative humidity exceeding 70% for 45% of the time. First-floor relative humidity surpassed 70% for 72% of the time. While condensation risk remains low year-round, it increases significantly with air infiltration through gaps in the building envelope. This study recommends enhancing the sealing of the building envelope, upgrading insulation materials and moisture barriers, particularly in the roof, and optimizing the HVAC system to improve energy efficiency and storage conditions. These findings offer valuable recommendations for retrofitting warehouse-type buildings in subtropical climates to improve energy efficiency and climate resilience. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 3931 KiB  
Article
Thermophysical Properties of Compressed Earth Blocks Incorporating Natural Materials
by Chiara Turco, Mohammadmahdi Abedi, Elisabete Teixeira and Ricardo Mateus
Energies 2024, 17(9), 2070; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17092070 - 26 Apr 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1737
Abstract
Building materials are responsible for significant CO2 emissions and energy consumption, both during production and operational phases. Earth as a building material offers a valuable alternative to conventional materials, as it naturally provides high hygrothermal comfort and air quality even with passive [...] Read more.
Building materials are responsible for significant CO2 emissions and energy consumption, both during production and operational phases. Earth as a building material offers a valuable alternative to conventional materials, as it naturally provides high hygrothermal comfort and air quality even with passive conditioning systems. However, disadvantages related to high density, conductivity, and wall thickness prevent its effective inclusion in the mainstream. This research explores enhancing the thermophysical properties of compressed earth blocks (CEBs) by using locally sourced natural materials. The study is framed in the Portuguese context and the natural materials involved are wheat straw (WS) as a by-product of wheat harvesting, cork granules (CGs) from bottle caps, and ground olive stone (GOSs) residues from olive oil production. Blocks were produced with different mixtures of these materials and the thermal response was examined in a hot box apparatus. Best results include a 20 and 26% reduction in thermal conductivity for mixtures with 5v.% CG and 10v.% GOS, respectively, and an associated reduction in bulk density of 3.8 and 5.4%. The proposed approach therefore proves to be effective in improving the key thermophysical characteristics of CEBs. The article includes a comparative analysis of the experimental data from this study with those from the literature. The study contributes to the growing knowledge of sustainable materials, providing insights for researchers and practitioners looking for innovative solutions for low-carbon and energy-efficient materials. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop