Dear Colleagues,

The Paris Agreement proposed that the rise of average global temperature in the 21st century should be limited to 2 °C above the pre-industrial level, and more efforts should be made to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 °C. The IPCC claimed that in order to achieve the Paris Agreement’s temperature control goals, the world must achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions (namely carbon neutrality) by 2050. More countries and regions around the world have proposed carbon neutrality goals (e.g., 2050 by the UK, New Zealand, and Canada; 2030 by Uruguay; and 2035 by Finland)

Building sectors are responsible for approximately 38% of total global energy consumption, which directly and indirectly cause more than 40% of global carbon emissions. Thus, the building sector plays a significant role in global energy conservation and achieving global carbon neutrality. A sustainable built environment and energy system can improve building occupants’ productivity, health, and wellbeing, and can balance the relationships among occupant’s feelings, environmental impacts, social development, and economic benefits.

This Special Issue is being organized to share the latest understanding, technologies, and methods for realizing carbon neutrality through sustainable building energy and thermal system management, with the goal of creating a highly energy-efficient, low-carbon, and smart energy community. Sustainability calls for papers addressing topics including, but not limited to, the following:

• Energy community:
• 1. Energy circulation (e.g., waste heat recoveries);
  2. Thermal energy storage;
  3. Renewable energy and heat pumps;
  4. Demand-side management;
  5. Low-temperature heating;
  6. High-temperature cooling.
• Near-zero-energy buildings:
1. Optimal design for new buildings;
2. Retrofit solutions;
3. Performance analysis and fault diagnosis;
4. Building performance simulation.
• Life cycle assessment:
1. Embodied energy of building material and products;
2. Tools and methods;
3. Policies;
4. Case studies on new buildings and retrofitting.

Dr. Xiaolei Yuan
Dr. Risto Kosonen
Dr. Yizhe Xu
Dr. Weixin Zhao
Guest Editors

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.

• carbon neutrality
• small energy community
• near-zero-energy buildings
• building retrofit
• life cycle assessment
• energy flexibility
• renewable energy
• building performance simulation
• energy policies