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Energies
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Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities
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Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 8292

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Rongyue Zheng

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: structural safety and engineering risk analysis; construction management based on BIM; energy-efficient buildings and reduction in carbon emission
Dr. Li Huang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Interests: green buildings and smart buildings; latent thermal energy storage systems; renewable energy applications; smart construction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are responsible for the majority of final energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Increased global urbanization has led to energy and water scarcity, traffic congestion, environmental degradation, and safety risks from aging infrastructures. The adoption of the smart city strategy can make cities more efficient and economical, ensure they are more sustainable, and enhance quality of life. In smart cities, both residential and commercial buildings are more efficient and use less energy. Energy-efficient buildings are the essential basis of smart cities.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances related to the design, modeling, construction, operation, maintenance, and assessment of energy-efficient buildings and smart cities.

Topics of interest for publication include but are not limited to:

  • Energy-efficient buildings, low-carbon buildings, passive houses, and zero energy buildings;
  • Green buildings;
  • Energy-efficient retrofitting and smart retrofitting;
  • Digital infrastructure;
  • Data collection, storage, analysis, and information processing at a citywide level;
  • Smart city services;
  • Smart transportation and mobility;
  • Renewable energy and energy efficiency;
  • Smart and sustainable buildings;
  • Smart governance;
  • Smart economy;
  • Smart environment.

Prof. Dr. Rongyue Zheng
Dr. Li Huang
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. Energies 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

  • energy-efficient buildings
  • smart cities
  • information and communication technology (ICT)
  • smart data
  • smart grid
  • renewable energy
  • key performance indicators
  • assessment tool
  • critical analysis
  • monitoring
  • modeling

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 4261 KiB  
Article
Comparison between Direct and Indirect Heat Flux Measurement Techniques: Preliminary Laboratory Tests
by Luca Evangelisti, Leone Barbaro, Claudia Guattari, Edoardo De Cristo, Roberto De Lieto Vollaro and Francesco Asdrubali
Energies 2024, 17(12), 2961; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17122961 - 16 Jun 2024
Viewed by 545
Abstract
Direct and indirect approaches can be employed for estimating the heat flow through components in different application fields. In the building sector, the thermometric method is often applied by professionals for thermal transmittance evaluations. However, miscalculations can derive from inaccurate total heat transfer [...] Read more.
Direct and indirect approaches can be employed for estimating the heat flow through components in different application fields. In the building sector, the thermometric method is often applied by professionals for thermal transmittance evaluations. However, miscalculations can derive from inaccurate total heat transfer coefficients, and a consensus regarding the appropriate value to employ remains to be determined. Here, an apparatus was realized for laboratory tests and heat flux measurements were performed following direct and indirect approaches. Data acquired through a common heat flow sensor were compared with those computed through a post-processing based on radiative and convective estimations. The results were affected by the specific correlation adopted for computing the convective coefficients, with the percentage differences ranging from −9.8% to −0.4%. New measurement systems could be designed for automatically computing heat fluxes through indirect approaches, thus providing alternative solutions in the panorama of non-destructive tests for building energy diagnosis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities)
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24 pages, 7037 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Hybrid Power-Heating System in a Single-Family Building, along with Ecological Aspects of the Operation
by Grzegorz Woroniak, Joanna Piotrowska-Woroniak, Anna Woroniak, Edyta Owczarek and Krystyna Giza
Energies 2024, 17(11), 2601; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17112601 - 28 May 2024
Viewed by 949
Abstract
This study evaluates a hybrid heating system in a single-family building in northeastern Poland, which has a temperate continental climate. The analysis covers two heating seasons in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. The hybrid heating system includes an air heat pump HPA–08 CS Plus with [...] Read more.
This study evaluates a hybrid heating system in a single-family building in northeastern Poland, which has a temperate continental climate. The analysis covers two heating seasons in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. The hybrid heating system includes an air heat pump HPA–08 CS Plus with a heating power of 8.2 kW (AHP), a condensing gas boiler VC146/5–5 with a power of 14 kW (GB–Condens.), and a solid fuel boiler with a power of 11 kW for central heating. Additionally, hot water is heated by a Basic 270 (DHW’s AHP) air–water heat pump with a power of 2 kW, utilizing a tank with a capacity of 270 dm3 equipped with two heating coils. The building’s average electricity consumption is around 5400 kWh/year. A 4.96 kWp photovoltaic installation is installed on the building’s roof at a 40° angle towards the south to supplement the hybrid system. The study aims to assess whether the PV installation can adequately cover the energy needs of the hybrid heat source for heating and hot water. Furthermore, the study calculates the emission of pollutants (CO2, SOx, NOx, CO, and PM10) into the atmosphere. The total annual electricity production from PV installations was 5444.9 kWh in 2021/2022 and 5684.8 kWh in 2022/2023. The excess electricity was stored in the PGE power grid as per the Prosumer settlement rules. The installed PV installation is sufficient to power the following devices annually: AHP, DHW’s AHP, and GB–Condens. However, the daily electricity production from the PV installation is not enough to cover the energy needs of the heat pump for heating during the cold months in Poland (I–III, XI–XII). It can meet the power needs of a PC all year round and can also be stored during the summer months, for example, in energy warehouses or by directly storing it in the PGE power grid. The use of the PV installation resulted in an average reduction in pollutant emissions into the atmosphere: CO2—94.1%, SOx—91.8%, NOx—95.6%, CO—9.7%, and PM10—32.1%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities)
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31 pages, 31881 KiB  
Article
A Retrofit Strategy for Real-Time Monitoring of Building Electrical Circuits Based on the SmartLVGrid Metamodel
by Rubens A. Fernandes, Raimundo C. S. Gomes, Ozenir Dias, Celso Carvalho, Israel G. Torné, Jozias P. Oliveira and Carlos T. C. Júnior
Energies 2022, 15(23), 9234; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15239234 - 6 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1995
Abstract
The Internet of things (IoT) paradigm promotes the emergence of solutions to enable energy-management strategies. However, these solutions may favor the disposal or replacement of outdated but still necessary systems. Thus, a proposal that advocates the retrofit of pre-existing systems would be an [...] Read more.
The Internet of things (IoT) paradigm promotes the emergence of solutions to enable energy-management strategies. However, these solutions may favor the disposal or replacement of outdated but still necessary systems. Thus, a proposal that advocates the retrofit of pre-existing systems would be an alternative to implement energy monitoring. In this sense, this work presents a strategy for monitoring electrical parameters in real time by using IoT solutions, cloud-resident applications, and retrofitting of legacy building electrical systems. In this implementation, we adapted the SmartLVGrid metamodel to systematize the insertion of remote monitoring resources in low-voltage circuits. For this, we developed embedded platforms for monitoring the circuits of a building electrical panel and application for visualization and data storage in the cloud. With this, remote monitoring of the consumer unit was carried out in relation to energy demand, power factor, and events of variations of electrical parameters in the circuits of the legacy distribution board. We also carried out a case study with the proposed system, identifying events of excess demand in the consumer unit, mitigating the individual contribution of the installation circuits in this process. Therefore, our proposal presents an alternative to enable energy management and maximum use of existing resources. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities)
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20 pages, 3490 KiB  
Article
Forecast of Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions in China’s Building Sector to 2060
by Xingfan Pu, Jian Yao and Rongyue Zheng
Energies 2022, 15(14), 4950; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15144950 - 6 Jul 2022
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 2280
Abstract
The goal of reaching the peak of carbon in the construction industry is urgent. However, the research on the feasibility of realizing this goal and the implementation of relevant policies in China is relatively superficial. In view of the historical data of energy [...] Read more.
The goal of reaching the peak of carbon in the construction industry is urgent. However, the research on the feasibility of realizing this goal and the implementation of relevant policies in China is relatively superficial. In view of the historical data of energy consumption and building CO2 emission from 1995 to 2019, this paper establishes a BP neural network model for predicting building CO2 emissions. Moreover, the influencing factors, such as population, GDP, and total construction output, are introduced as the parameters in the model. Through the scenario analysis method explores the practical path to accomplish the peak of building CO2 emissions. When using traditional prediction methods to predict building carbon emissions, the long prediction cycle will increase the possibility of significant errors. Therefore, this paper constructs the calculation model of building carbon emission and forecasts the future carbon emission value through the BP neural network to avoid the error caused by the nonlinear relationship between influencing factors and predicted value. It will effectively predict the feasibility of the carbon peak and the carbon-neutral target set by government, and provide a useful predictive tool for adjusting the new energy structure and formulating related emission reduction policies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities)
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12 pages, 2132 KiB  
Article
How Do Temperature Differences and Stable Thermal Conditions Affect the Heat Flux Meter (HFM) Measurements of Walls? Laboratory Experimental Analysis
by Tullio de Rubeis, Luca Evangelisti, Claudia Guattari, Domenica Paoletti, Francesco Asdrubali and Dario Ambrosini
Energies 2022, 15(13), 4746; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134746 - 28 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1647
Abstract
In recent years, experimental tests related to building components through laboratory facilities have relatively matured. The techniques are based on one-dimensional heat transfer by creating a permanent temperature difference over a specimen to control heat fluxes. The three main methods are the Guarded [...] Read more.
In recent years, experimental tests related to building components through laboratory facilities have relatively matured. The techniques are based on one-dimensional heat transfer by creating a permanent temperature difference over a specimen to control heat fluxes. The three main methods are the Guarded Hot Box (GHB) method, the Calibrated Hot Box (CHB) method, and the Heat-Flow Meter method (HFM). The HFM method is the most widely applied technique for measuring on-site U-values of building components and several scientific works stressed the need for high temperature differences between the environments, suggesting 10 °C or 15 °C. However, temperature stability and high temperature gradients are difficult to obtain, especially for Mediterranean climatic conditions. Starting from this, an experimental study was conducted through a GHB apparatus, setting temperature differences from 2 °C to 20 °C between the hot and cold chambers. Heat flow measurements were performed to compute the thermal conductance of a specimen characterized by a known stratigraphy, thus highlighting the effect of the low thermal gradient on data acquired by the heat flow sensor. It was found that, even for low temperature differences (2 °C) maintained by ensuring stable thermal conditions, the experimental results are comparable with those obtained for higher and usual temperature differences (20 °C). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optimization and Innovation of Energy Efficient Buildings and Smart Cities)
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