Sustainability of Building Materials and Civil Engineering Materials
A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Materials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 July 2023) | Viewed by 3197
Special Issue Editors
Interests: waste management; building materials; renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: waste management; building materials; CO2 absorption
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The construction and building industry is one of the world economy's largest sectors, but also one of the largest contributors to the environmental disruption and pollution. It is estimated that more than one-third of energy consumption and CO2 emissions are provided by this sector. In addition, construction and building materials consume more than 25% of raw materials and freshwater reserves. Therefore, the sector is commonly placed in the center of economic and energy policies related to social, climate, and energy challenges.
Therefore, the sector must shift towards a low-carbon economy and become more competitive, resource efficient, and sustainable. In this regard, as it has been widely demonstrated, major concerns are related to the energy consumption of buildings and infrastructure and the high consumption of material resources, including their greenhouse gas emissions across all the phases included in the life cycle assessment.
One the one hand, the embedded footprint of building and civil engineering materials encompasses extraction, manufacturing, construction, maintenance, and disposal. Hence, the replacement of raw materials by residues in a circular economy approach, more efficient manufacturing processes which reduce energy intensity, wastes, and emissions, or a longer service life may with easier recyclability are areas that hold enormous potential as solutions for lowering environmental impacts.
On the other hand, these construction materials highly influence the operation of buildings and infrastructures. Thus, improvements related to thermal isolation, hygroscopic behavior, or mechanical response, among others, can help engineers to reduce energy consumption, living discomfort, or the size of structures.
For these reasons, this Special Issue is aimed to show the most relevant advances related to building and civil engineering materials from the perspective of a more environmentally friendly footprint. Due to the leading role of the construction and building sector, an effective paradigm shift will certainly contribute to sustainability and the sustainable development.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:
Lean manufacturing of construction and building materials, environmental impact of construction and building materials, sustainable conservation and maintenance techniques, improvement of existing buildings, replacement of natural raw materials by residues, construction and demolition waste management, improvement of technological properties of construction and building materials, energy performance of envelopes, life cycle impact of buildings, CO2 absorption strategies, economy of green building materials, social life cycle assessment, and longer life expectancy of built assets.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Materials.
Prof. Dr. Pedro Muñoz-Velasco
Dr. Viviana C. Letelier Gonzalez
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- ecological footprint
- energy performance
- life cycle assessment
- circular economy
- structural safety
- lean manufacturing
- waste
- building
- construction
- environment
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