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Sustainable Building and Sustainable Indoor Environmental Quality (3rd Edition)
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Sustainable Building and Sustainable Indoor Environmental Quality (3rd Edition)

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 24 December 2025 | Viewed by 3195

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alireza Afshari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of the Built Environment, Division of Sustainability, Energy and Indoor Environment, Aalborg University, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: construction; indoor climate; ventilation; particles; demand controlled ventilation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Jinhan Mo

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Building Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: air cleaning; indoor air quality; catalytic oxidation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Matthew Johnson

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 5, DK2100 Copenhagen, Denmark
Interests: air cleaning; ventilation; indoor air quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A sustainable building encompasses both the structure and the use of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout the building’s lifecycle. It covers energy use, water use, indoor environmental quality, material selection, stormwater infiltration, and building energy management. This includes design and construction, maintenance, and renovation, and continues through to demolition.

Sustainable indoor environmental quality refers to the conditions inside a building, i.e., air quality, lighting, thermal conditions, ergonomics, and their effects on occupants or residents.

This Special Issue focuses on, but is not limited to, the research works on the following topics:

  • A combined evaluation of indoor environmental quality and well-being for occupants. The well-being of people is defined in terms of their health, comfort, and happiness;
  • Sustainable indoor environmental quality with a holistic perspective and the evaluation of both individual and combined parameters within the indoor air quality, thermal comfort, visual comfort, and acoustical quality, with a focus on the combined effects and evaluation of more than one parameter at a time;
  • New knowledge within social sustainability and influence on the overall assessment of sustainable buildings;
  • Energy-saving and energy flexibility in buildings and clusters of buildings;
  • Sustainable renewable energy and energy storage systems.

The second edition/volume can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/bul_ind_v2

Prof. Dr. Alireza Afshari
Prof. Dr. Jinhan Mo
Prof. Dr. Matthew Johnson
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.

Keywords

  • sustainable building
  • indoor environmental quality
  • ventilation
  • energy storage
  • air quality
  • filtration
  • air cleaning
  • energy saving

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 951 KiB  
Article
Impact of Resident Density and Behaviour on the Indoor Air Concentration of Polychlorinated Biphenyls in Apartments
by Niss Skov Nielsen, Lars Gunnarsen and Lisbeth E. Knudsen
Sustainability 2025, 17(5), 2028; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17052028 - 26 Feb 2025
Viewed by 512
Abstract
Background: PCBs are persistent organic chemicals that have serious impacts on sustainability from the perspectives of health and the environment. We investigated the impact of apartment size in combination with residential and behavioural factors on PCB concentrations in indoor air within contaminated apartments. [...] Read more.
Background: PCBs are persistent organic chemicals that have serious impacts on sustainability from the perspectives of health and the environment. We investigated the impact of apartment size in combination with residential and behavioural factors on PCB concentrations in indoor air within contaminated apartments. Methods: Fifty-one apartments from a Danish complex were investigated for PCBs in 2017, including self-reported information about cleaning and ventilation. Results: Linear regressions showed that a high resident and pet density (m2 per person/pet) and, to some extent, a high resident density, were significantly correlated with lower indoor air concentrations of PCBs. Low indoor air temperature, high cleaning frequency, and open vent valves (ventilation) were other significant reducing factors. The average concentrations of PCBs in apartments with a resident density of 25 m2 per resident were 2000 ng/m3 and 1844 ng/m3 per resident/pet. These concentrations increased by 0.37% for each additional m2 per resident and by 0.70% for each additional m2 per resident/pet. Conclusions: Resident/pet density and, to some extent, resident density are significant modifiers of the indoor air content of PCBs in the investigated complex. Temperature, cleaning frequency, and blocking or unblocking of vent valves (ventilation) are behavioural factors related to residential and residential/pet density and significant modifying factors of the PCB indoor air concentration. This study confirms the importance of cleaning and ventilation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Building and Sustainable Indoor Environmental Quality (3rd Edition))
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29 pages, 14966 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Comparative Life Cycle Assessment, Cost, and Comfort Analysis of Heavyweight vs. Lightweight Construction Systems in a Mediterranean Climate
by Carlo Costantino, Stefano Bigiotti, Alvaro Marucci and Riccardo Gulli
Sustainability 2024, 16(20), 8959; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16208959 - 16 Oct 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2198
Abstract
Massive construction systems have always characterized traditional architecture and are currently the most prevalent, straightforward, and cost-effective in many Mediterranean countries. However, in recent years, the construction industry has gradually shifted towards using lightweight, dry construction techniques. This study aims to assess the [...] Read more.
Massive construction systems have always characterized traditional architecture and are currently the most prevalent, straightforward, and cost-effective in many Mediterranean countries. However, in recent years, the construction industry has gradually shifted towards using lightweight, dry construction techniques. This study aims to assess the effects on energy consumption, comfort levels, and environmental sustainability resulting from the adoption of five high-performance construction systems in a multi-family residential building: (i) reinforced concrete structure with low-transmittance thermal block infill; (ii) reinforced concrete structure with light-clay bricks and outer thermal insulation; (iii) steel frame; (iv) cross-laminated timber (CLT); (v) timber-steel hybrid structure. To achieve this goal, a multidisciplinary approach was employed, including the analysis of thermal parameters, the evaluation of indoor comfort through the adaptive model and Fanger’s PMV, and the quantification of environmental and economic impacts through life cycle assessment and life cycle cost applied in a long-term analysis (ranging from 30 to 100 years). The results highlight that heavyweight construction systems are the most effective in terms of comfort, cost, and long-term environmental impact (100 years), while lightweight construction systems generally have higher construction costs, provide lower short-term environmental impacts (30 years), and offer intermediate comfort depending on the thermal mass. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Building and Sustainable Indoor Environmental Quality (3rd Edition))
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