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Buildings
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Renewable Energy and Sustainable Building Design
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Renewable Energy and Sustainable Building Design

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2025 | Viewed by 2648

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yupeng Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China
Interests: green building design; building simulation; building energy; urban heat island; sustainable urban development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Dengjia Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Building Services Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an 710043, China
Interests: building energy saving; solar energy technology; indoor thermal environment; indoor environmental fine control; net-zero energy building
Dr. Barbara Galli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy
Interests: building renovation; cultural heritage; rural and urban area regeneration; history; heritage enhancement
Xiaolei Ju

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Low-Carbon Building Technology Institute, China Architectural Design & Research Group, Beijing 100044, China
Interests: low-carbon building; building integrated photovoltaic; renewable energy; solar thermal utilization; solar building

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Buildings account for 30% of global energy consumption, and zero-carbon construction is an important method that can be used to slow down global warming. Wide applications of renewable energy could contribute to adjusting the energy structure and realizing near-zero or zero-carbon buildings. Facing the phenomenon of global climate change and energy shortages, clean, accessible, and harmless renewable energy has recently attracted more and more attention from scholars and policy makers. Exploring application methods of renewable energy in buildings, their carbon reduction effects, and their energy management is crucial to zero-carbon buildings’ design and operation.

This Special Issue, titled “Renewable Energy and Sustainable Building Design”, aims to showcase recent advancements regarding the contribution of renewable energy and zero-carbon buildings. It welcomes high-quality original research papers focusing on renewable energy for zero-carbon buildings, including (but not limited to) integrated renewable energy building application approaches, the evaluation of the effectiveness of carbon reduction in renewable energy buildings, renewable energy and the built environment, renewable energy management in buildings, and the components of renewable energy buildings. We especially welcome papers that explore “The 19th China Renewable Energy Congress–Technical Committee of Solar Building”.

Prof. Dr. Yupeng Wang
Prof. Dr. Dengjia Wang
Dr. Barbara Galli
Guest Editors

Xiaolei Ju
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Buildings 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 2600 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

  • solar building
  • building energy saving
  • solar energy technology
  • indoor thermal environment
  • green building design
  • renewable energy management
  • renewable energy
  • building renovation
  • urban heat island
  • urban redevelopment

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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

26 pages, 4807 KiB  
Article
Exploratory Research on Carbon Emission Accounting and Reduction Strategies for University Campuses in Severe Cold Zones of China
by Yangyang Wang, Weiya Chen, Weijia Chen and Qingying Hou
Buildings 2025, 15(6), 856; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15060856 - 10 Mar 2025
Viewed by 613
Abstract
In this study, the carbon emissions of Jilin University of Architecture and Technology were comprehensively calculated using the “Guidelines for accounting of carbon emissions of university campuses” issued by the China Association for Energy Conservation in Buildings. The total emissions for 2023 amounted [...] Read more.
In this study, the carbon emissions of Jilin University of Architecture and Technology were comprehensively calculated using the “Guidelines for accounting of carbon emissions of university campuses” issued by the China Association for Energy Conservation in Buildings. The total emissions for 2023 amounted to 13,571.85 tonnes of CO2 equivalents, with a per person emission of 0.93 tonnes. Incorporating carbon offsets like green plant sequestration, renewable energy, and waste recycling reduced emissions by 9007.68 tonnes, resulting in a net emission of 4564.17 tonnes and a per person net emission of 0.31 tonnes. To further cut emissions, the university implemented strategies such as nearly zero-energy buildings, clean energy heating, energy monitoring, and green courses. Despite these efforts, achieving carbon neutrality remains challenging. The university could explore opportunities to increase renewable energy use or procure green electricity. Its adoption of clean electricity for heating in the severe cold zones not only supports carbon neutrality but also serves as a model for similar campuses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Sustainable Building Design)
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21 pages, 6003 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Energy Recovery Potential in Urban Underground Utility Tunnels: A Case Study
by Tong Wei, Mingyue Fan, Zijun Xu, Weijun Li, Zhaolin Gu and Xilian Luo
Buildings 2024, 14(10), 3113; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14103113 - 28 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1323
Abstract
Underground spaces contain abundant geothermal energy, which can be recovered for building ventilation, reducing energy consumption. However, current research lacks a comprehensive quantitative assessment of its energy recovery. This research evaluates the energy recovery potential of the Xingfu Forest Belt Urban Underground Utility [...] Read more.
Underground spaces contain abundant geothermal energy, which can be recovered for building ventilation, reducing energy consumption. However, current research lacks a comprehensive quantitative assessment of its energy recovery. This research evaluates the energy recovery potential of the Xingfu Forest Belt Urban Underground Utility Tunnels. Field experiments revealed a 7 °C temperature difference in winter and a 2.5 °C reduction during the summer-to-autumn transition. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was developed to assess the impact of design and operational factors such as air exchange rates on outlet temperatures and heat exchange efficiency. The results indicate that at an air change rate of 0.5 h−1, the tunnel outlet temperature dropped by 10.5 °C. A 200 m tunnel transferred 8.7 × 1010 J of heat over 30 days, and a 6 m × 6 m cross-sectional area achieved 1.1 × 1011 J of total heat transfer. Increasing the air exchange rate and cross-sectional area reduces the inlet–outlet temperature difference while enhancing heat transfer capacity. However, the optimal buried depth should not exceed 8 m due to cost and safety considerations. This study demonstrates the potential of shallow geothermal energy as an eco-friendly and efficient solution for enhancing building ventilation systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Energy and Sustainable Building Design)
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