Special Issue "Sustainable and Renewable Energy Technologies in the Built Environment"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Wenye Lin
E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3
Guest Editor
Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, 79110 Freiburg, Germany
Interests: Sustainable and renewable energy technologies in the built environment; Novel heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; Thermal energy storage (TES) using phase change materials (PCMs) in buildings; Solar photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems; Phase change material slurries; Analysis of indoor environment quality (IEQ) using data mining technologies; Dynamic modelling and optimization of buildings and building HVAC systems; Mechanical vapor re-compression (MVR) systems for heat recovery

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As one of the major consumers of energy, buildings account for a significant proportion of the global energy usage as well as a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions, which gives rise to a series of problems of public concern such as energy resource exhaustion, energy supply difficulties, global warming, and environmental pollution. These problems are expected to be drastically aggravated by the rapidly increasing building energy demand, easier access to energy, rapid growth in total floor area worldwide, and continuous improvement in the quality of life. Therefore, sustainability and energy efficiency in the built environment have become high priorities and attracted increasing attention. In recent decades, much effort has been made on the development and deployment of sustainable and renewable energy technologies to mitigate or address the global energy and environment challenges.

This Special Issue aims to gather original research and review articles regarding various sustainable and low-energy technologies, solutions, and systems in the built environment, thereby providing a platform to present the latest advancements, gain an in-depth understanding, and stimulate the further promotion of these technologies. Topics within the scope of this Special Issue include but are not limited to:

  • Renewable energy technologies, such as solar photovoltaic, solar thermal, wind, geothermal, and biomass technologies, , in the built environment;
  • Sustainable technologies, such as energy storage, green roof, radiative cooling, desiccant cooling, dehumidification technologies, , in the built environment;
  • Net-zero and low-energy buildings;
  • High-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems;
  • Indoor environmental quality optimization for energy saving;
  • Integration of sustainable and renewable energy technologies on building façades;
  • Optimization of sustainable and renewable energy systems in the built environment;
  • Energy flexibility and demand-side management in buildings;
  • Building energy management using data mining;
  • Environmental assessment of sustainable and renewable energy systems in the built environment;
  • Economic analysis of sustainable and renewable energy systems in the built environment.

Dr. Wenye Lin
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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • built environment
  • sustainable technologies
  • renewable energy
  • energy efficiency
  • energy management

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Performance Analysis of Solar-Assisted Ground-Coupled Heat Pump Systems with Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage to Supply Domestic Hot Water for Campus Buildings in Southern China
Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8344; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13158344 - 27 Jul 2021
Viewed by 420
Abstract
The supply of domestic hot water (DHW) on college and university campuses is indispensable and is also one of the main components of campus energy consumption. The density of residential patterns and similar occupancy behavior of college students make it economical to use [...] Read more.
The supply of domestic hot water (DHW) on college and university campuses is indispensable and is also one of the main components of campus energy consumption. The density of residential patterns and similar occupancy behavior of college students make it economical to use centralized systems to cover the DHW demand, and utilization of solar energy can make the systems more economical. Seasonal thermal energy storage (STES) is a promising key technology that can minimize the imbalance between the availability of solar energy and thermal energy demand. In this paper, a solar-assisted ground-coupled heat pump (SAGCHP) system that meets the DHW demand of 960 students was investigated by means of dynamic simulation and energy-economic analysis. The simulation results in terms of the underground heat balance are compared with a standalone GCHP system and a SAGCHP system without STES. Results show that heat recharging operations during university summer and winter breaks (when there are minimal students on campus) lead to improved underground heat balance and energy performance. Finally, a sensitivity analysis on system performance was carried out by varying solar collector arrays. It was found that there exists an optimal value of solar collector area to achieve the lowest system lifecycle cost (LCC). Full article
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Article
A Novel Oil-free Dual Piston Compressor Driven by a Moving Coil Linear Motor with Capacity Regulation Using R134a
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 5029; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095029 - 30 Apr 2021
Viewed by 491
Abstract
Improving compressor efficiency is very important to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A novel oil-free dual piston compressor prototype driven by a moving coil linear motor was developed, and its working principle was described in detail. The prototype was integrated with [...] Read more.
Improving compressor efficiency is very important to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A novel oil-free dual piston compressor prototype driven by a moving coil linear motor was developed, and its working principle was described in detail. The prototype was integrated with a test rig to measure the operation characteristics, the compressor efficiencies and the coefficient of performance (COP). The results show that the dual piston structure results in extraordinary sinusoidal gas force and electromagnetic force and significantly reduces piston offset, which is completely different from the traditional single piston structure. Compared with the variable frequency method, the variable stroke method has lower energy consumption and a higher COP, which is more suitable to cooling capacity regulation for the prototype. The maximum COP, motor efficiency and volumetric efficiency are 5.34, 87.9% and 79.1%, respectively, under the design condition (the evaporation pressure is 0.35 MPa, and the pressure ratio is 2.54). The COP of the linear compressor is 38%, 24% and 12% higher than the commercial crank-driven reciprocating compressor at the pressure ratios of 2.54, 2.80 and 3.90, respectively, which reflects the efficiency advantage of the dual piston linear compressor in household refrigeration. Full article
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Article
Investigation of Mixing Behavior of Hydrogen Blended to Natural Gas in Gas Network
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4255; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084255 - 12 Apr 2021
Viewed by 481
Abstract
Hydrogen is of great significance for replacing fossil fuels and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The application of hydrogen mixing with natural gas in gas network transportation not only improves the utilization rate of hydrogen energy, but also reduces the cost of large-scale updating [...] Read more.
Hydrogen is of great significance for replacing fossil fuels and reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The application of hydrogen mixing with natural gas in gas network transportation not only improves the utilization rate of hydrogen energy, but also reduces the cost of large-scale updating household or commercial appliance. This paper investigates the necessity of a gas mixing device for adding hydrogen to existing natural gas pipelines in the industrial gas network. A three-dimensional helical static mixer model is developed to simulate the mixing behavior of the gas mixture. In addition, the model is validated with experimental results. Parametric studies are performed to investigate the effect of mixer on the mixing performance including the coefficient of variation (COV) and pressure loss. The research results show that, based on the, the optimum number of mixing units is three. The arrangement of the torsion angle of the mixing unit has a greater impact on the COV. When the torsion angle θ = 120°, the COV has a minimum value of 0.66%, and when the torsion angle θ = 60°, the COV has a maximum value of 8.54%. The distance of the mixing unit has little effect on the pressure loss of the mixed gas but has a greater impact on the COV. Consecutive arrangement of the mixing units (Case A) is the best solution. Increasing the distance of the mixing unit is not effective for the gas mixing effect. Last but not least, the gas mixer is optimized to improve the mixing performance. Full article
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