Advancing Sustainable Building Practices: State of the Art in Thermal Insulation Materials, Energy Efficiency, and Technological Innovations

Dear Colleagues,

The pursuit of energy efficiency within the building sector is a pivotal challenge against the backdrop of global sustainability goals. Particularly, the development and implementation of both traditional and cutting-edge thermal insulation materials play a crucial role in the architectural paradigm shift towards energy-efficient buildings. This transformation is further catalyzed by the integration of renewable materials, fostering not only thermal efficiency but also ecological balance. Besides innovative materials, the general increased establishment of advanced technological systems and devices in buildings has pushed the tendency to make the whole construction sector resilient and adaptable to climate change.

This Special Issue aims to spotlight state-of-the-art thermal insulation materials, focusing on their capacity for energy saving and contribution to CO₂ reduction. It will explore the advancements in new insulation materials, their numerical modeling, and the consequential impacts on building energy performance. Additionally, it seeks to address adaptive and mitigative strategies to tackle climate change and enhance the sustainability of buildings by implementing, for example, artificial intelligence.

We invite the submission of original research articles and reviews for this Special Issue. Research areas may include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Advancements in thermal insulation materials;
2. The numerical modeling and simulation of novel insulation materials and systems;
3. The impact of insulation materials on building energy performance;
4. Adaptive and mitigative strategies used for combatting climate change in the building sector;
5. Innovative HVAC systems and domotic systems;
6. Renewable energies used for buildings;
7. LCA and LCC approaches to sustainability;
8. The integration of artificial intelligence in enhancing building sustainability;
9. AI in sustainable building design or energy systems;
10. Machine learning applications in regards to energy efficiency.

Submissions that present interdisciplinary studies, novel methodologies, and case studies of local and global significance are particularly welcome. We anticipate contributions that present rigorous scientific and technical advancements and consider the socio-economic aspects of sustainable building practices.

We look forward to receiving your insightful submissions.

Prof. Dr. Mariano Pierantozzi
Dr. Camilla Lops
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.

• sustainable building insulation
• energy-efficient construction materials
• thermal insulation innovations
• building energy performance
• CO₂ emission reduction in buildings
• numerical modeling in material science
• climate change resilience in architecture
• renewable insulation materials
• state-of-the-art insulation technologies
• the environmental impact of thermal materials
• artificial intelligence used for sustainable buildings
• deep learning used for climate change