Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEBs): Concepts, Frameworks and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

The residential and commercial building sector presently accounts for 20% of the total energy consumption worldwide. Data projection says that in the residential sector, the energy consumption will grow by an average of 1.1% per year from 2015 to 2040. This growth for commercial buildings has been predicted to be between 1.2% and 1.9% per year over the same time period. Around 39% of worldwide energy-related carbon emissions are attributed to buildings while 11% of this represents the construction process. The concept of net zero energy buildings is a promising approach to overcoming the energy and climate change crisis of our time. There are different interpretations of the net zero energy concept in buildings, namely net zero source energy building, net zero site energy building, net zero energy cost building, and net zero energy emissions building. The two pillars of all of these interpretations are improving the building energy efficiency from construction to operation and providing energy needs of buildings from renewable resources.

This Special Issue of Sustainability seeks papers that can addresses the existing challenges of the different interpretations of the net zero energy concept in buildings and their possible solutions. Researchers with a more holistic view of the effect of new strategies in building construction and operations in their study are highly encouraged to submit their research articles to this special issue. Topics may include but are not limited to sustainability aspects of building industry innovations, sustainable construction management, social and behavioral aspects of NZEBs, life cycle assessment of innovations in building industry, and big data analytics and machine learning to improve building energy efficiency.

Dr. Rambod Rayegan
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.

• zero energy concept
• building sustainability
• life cycle assessment
• sustainable construction management
• big data in buildings
• climate change