Advanced Technology in Net Zero Energy Buildings: Solar and Renewable Energy Applications

Dear Colleagues,

The main consumptions of domestic and public buildings are heating, cooling, the production of domestic hot water, electricity for lighting and electronic devices, and mechanical ventilation. A nearly zero energy building (NZEB) can generate energy using renewable resources on site or nearby with very low environmental impact in thermal and hygrometric comfort, but also acoustic and luminous comfort, guaranteed by a skilful design based on:

• The location and orientation of the building;
• A construction system that optimizes the cost–benefit ratio;
• Rigid and thermal insulation materials adapted for walls, floors, and roofs;
• Airtightness and thermal continuity;
• An efficient plant system that maximizes the use of renewable resources and minimizes management costs;
• Solutions for home automation and monitoring systems and for energy and optimizing management control.

From this perspective, the building can be transformed into an energy generation system, and its design should consider not only traditional design aspects, but also the energy aspect.

Machine learning and deep learning techniques tend to solve and investigate energy use and efficiency in buildings in the realization of high-efficiency renewable energy systems.

Design and technological solutions can be considered in the design of these buildings to reduce the consumption to almost zero, in order to then satisfy the demand through the energy produced from renewable sources.

This Special Issue focuses on bioclimatic design solutions intergrated in buildings; solar energy sources and advanced technology systems, energy storage and harvester systems, and system solutions, including evolutionary algorithms and neural theory based on soft computing techniques in NZEB. Possible submissions are not limited to these topics, and papers related to intelligent methods applied to buildings and urban environment are also welcome. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Energy-efficient methods in residential, commercial, public, and industrial buildings;
• Building safety and intelligent solutions;
• Energy technologies and solar energy integration in buildings and urban environments;
• Thermal energy;
• Advanced  models for solar energy;
• Intelligent IoT systems applied to buildings and urban environment;
• Sensors and artificial intelligence in solar energy systems and forecasting;
• Integration of appropriate building technologies into the architectural designs.

Dr. Grazia Lo Sciuto
Dr. Paweł Kowol
Dr. Zygmunt Kowalik
Dr. Marek Kciuk
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• neural networks and soft computing techinique
• renewable energy
• energy management
• buildings and urban environment