Sustainable Building Envelopes Design for Holistic Indoor Environment and Improved Energy Efficiency

Dear Colleagues,

The building sector substantially contributes to increasing levels of energy consumption and to a growing carbon footprint on a global scale. Building envelopes play an important role in energy consumption throughout the different stages of a building’s life cycle: (i) planning, (ii) design and renovation, (iii) construction, (iv) operation and maintenance, and (v) end-of-life. Facade enclosures and roofs also play a crucial role in providing people with comfortable and healthy indoor environments. In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the use of SATE systems, ventilated facades, triple glazing, or the incorporation of phase-change materials (PCM) to increase thermal inertia in areas with adverse climatology. Another important trend has been the industrialization of façade systems, which focus on the modulation and the reduction of on-site execution times, as well as the reuse of construction elements. Thus, modular greenhouse systems or trombe walls, photovoltaic solar panels, Canadian wells, or chimney effect techniques to dissipate excessive heat have been patented. Some standards, such as passive houses, have also sought constructive solutions to minimize air permeability in external enclosures, which have been subsequently tested with the blower door test. This Special Issue of Sustainability is looking for articles exploring new environmentally friendly façade and roof construction solutions. Possible topics include the following:

• Industrialized construction: faster, cheaper, reusable construction methods.
• How to reduce energy consumption in one or more stages of a building’s life cycle.
• Passive design strategies, low-embodied energy systems, and energy related to transportation.
• Exterior interaction: air quality and indoor environmental quality.
• End-of-life: circular built environments; reduction, reuse, and recycling.

Prof. Dr. Victor Echarri-Iribarren
Prof. Dr. Vicente Sarrablo Moreno
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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. Sustainability 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 2400 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.

• energy efficiency
• building envelope
• renewable energy
• industrialised construction
• reuse
• recycle
• life cycle assessment
• passive design strategies
• operation and maintenance
• end-of-life
• circular materials