Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.8
3.9
Journals
Sustainability
Special Issues
Buildings and Sustainable Energy Transition
sustainability-logo
Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Buildings and Sustainable Energy Transition

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 16239

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Muhammad Asif

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Engineering and Built Environment, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK
Interests: renewable energy; energy conservation and management; sustainable buildings; energy policy; life cycle analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The special issue “Buildings and Sustainable Energy Transition” calls for papers covering the important dimensions of the role of buildings towards the sustainable energy transition.

In the wake of the threats posed by climate change, the global energy scenario is experiencing a major transformation. This transformation is fundamentally a sustainable or low-carbon energy transition as the world is targeting to go zero-carbon by the middle of this century. The building sector is a critical part of the global energy and environmental scenario. Buildings have to play an important role in improving the sustainability standards at the national and international levels, and realizing the sustainable energy transition. Nations across the world are paying a great deal of attention in making the building sector sustainable. In this respect, massive developments are taking place on the technology and policy fronts.  

This special issue aims to cover the role buildings have to play towards the sustainable energy transition. Papers are invited around topics like global warming and climate change, energy transition, energy resources, renewable energy, low carbon technologies, energy efficient buildings, green and sustainable buildings, building rating systems, and sustainable development. Papers on these topics can have a diverse scope including but not limiting to scientific and technological advancements, policy development and implementation, and system application and case studies.

Dr. Muhammad Asif
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. 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.

Keywords

  • buildings
  • energy transition
  • energy efficiency
  • renewable energy
  • low-carbon technologies
  • sustainable development
  • retrofitting
  • sustainable buildings
  • energy resources
  • global warming
  • climate change
  • smart solutions
  • digitalization

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

17 pages, 2080 KiB  
Article
Energy and Water Saving Potential in Commercial Buildings: A Retrofit Case Study
by Wahhaj Ahmed, Ayman Alazazmeh and Muhammad Asif
Sustainability 2023, 15(1), 518; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010518 - 28 Dec 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2562
Abstract
The global building sector has great potential for energy savings. Retrofitting of existing buildings can effectively improve their energy and environmental sustainability. However, retrofitting is a complex task and requires proper Measurement & Verification (M&V) to validate the process for various building types [...] Read more.
The global building sector has great potential for energy savings. Retrofitting of existing buildings can effectively improve their energy and environmental sustainability. However, retrofitting is a complex task and requires proper Measurement & Verification (M&V) to validate the process for various building types and locations. Such M&V studies for commercial buildings in the studied region are missing and a critical gap exists. This paper addresses this gap by discussing the effectiveness of retrofit energy and water efficiency measures implemented in a commercial building in Saudi Arabia. At first, a thorough energy audit is conducted and then five Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs) and a water conservation measure is implemented. A post-retrofit M&V exercise is conducted to measure and validate the savings along with respective economic benefits. The results indicate that the implemented EEMs reduced the building’s annual energy consumption by 27%. The overall compound payback period for the investments is found to be six years. The study successfully validates the energy and water savings achievable through retrofitting by presenting the first M&V case study of a post-retrofit commercial building in the country. Thus, it proves that implementation of EEMs and water saving measures are effective strategies to retrofit commercial buildings in the region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings and Sustainable Energy Transition)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

24 pages, 1499 KiB  
Review
Sustainable Building Standards, Codes and Certification Systems: The Status Quo and Future Directions in Saudi Arabia
by Bassem Jamoussi, Asad Abu-Rizaiza and Ali AL-Haij
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10314; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610314 - 19 Aug 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5530
Abstract
Sustainable building practices are a response to environmental issues. Businesses and industries are assessing how their activities affect the environment. The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries have significant impacts on the environment and economy, while the industry is considered one of the [...] Read more.
Sustainable building practices are a response to environmental issues. Businesses and industries are assessing how their activities affect the environment. The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries have significant impacts on the environment and economy, while the industry is considered one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and has, therefore, been highlighted by researchers as a key area of intervention with a great potential to reduce environmental impacts. This paper critically reviews and evaluates the current state of sustainable building certification systems with the purpose of having a good understanding of the status quo and possibilities for future directions in Saudi Arabia. It reviews the academic literature on Saudi Arabia’s green/sustainable building codes, standards, certification systems, methods and tools. It starts by addressing sustainability in the broadest sense. Then, it investigates sustainability strategies and evaluates the building certification systems in Saudi Arabia, followed by an introduction to the new practice of sustainable healthcare building assessment. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and building information modelling (BIM) techniques have also been investigated. The paper introduces the updated Saudi Building Code (SBC) with further evaluation of the Saudi Green Building Code (SBC 1001-CR). Finally, the paper clearly highlights the key role of sustainable building practices and the need to develop a certification system that considers the new trends and the local context. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings and Sustainable Energy Transition)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

28 pages, 2689 KiB  
Review
Systematic Review Analysis on Smart Building: Challenges and Opportunities
by Muhammad Saidu Aliero, Muhammad Asif, Imran Ghani, Muhammad Fermi Pasha and Seung Ryul Jeong
Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 3009; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14053009 - 04 Mar 2022
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 7575
Abstract
Smart building technology incorporates efficient and automated controls and applications that use smart energy products, networked sensors, and data analytics software to monitor environmental data and occupants’ energy consumption habits to improve buildings’ operation and energy performance. Smart technologies and controls are becoming [...] Read more.
Smart building technology incorporates efficient and automated controls and applications that use smart energy products, networked sensors, and data analytics software to monitor environmental data and occupants’ energy consumption habits to improve buildings’ operation and energy performance. Smart technologies and controls are becoming increasingly important not only in research and development (R&D) but also in industrial and commercial domains, leading to a steady growth in their application in the building sector. This study examines the literature on SBEMS published between 2010 and 2020 with a systematic approach. It examines the trend with the annual number of the published studies before exploring the classification of publications in terms of factors such as domain of SBEMS, control approaches, smart technologies, and quality attributes. Recent developments around the smart building energy management systems (SBEMS) have focused on features that provide occupants with an interface to monitor, schedule, and modify building energy consumption profiles and allow a utility to participate in a communication grid through demand response programs and automatic self-report outage functionality. The study also explores future research avenues, especially in terms of improvements in privacy and security, and interoperability. It is also suggested that the smart building technologies’ smartness can be improved with the help of solutions such as real-time data monitoring and machine learning Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Buildings and Sustainable Energy Transition)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop