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Development of Ultra-Low-Energy-Consumption and Zero-Energy Buildings in Response to Climate Change: 2nd Edition

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2026 | Viewed by 3367

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Architecture and Fine Art, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Interests: building energy efficiency; urban climate; urban disaster prevention
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Climate change represents a significant challenge currently facing the global community. Reducing the consumption of conventional energy sources and enhancing the utilization of renewable energy are crucial pathways to decrease carbon emissions, achieve carbon neutrality, and address climate change. Buildings account for one-third of the total societal energy consumption. Therefore, the development of ultra-low-energy or zero-energy buildings is an important measure to reduce carbon emissions and energy consumption and a frontier and focal point in contemporary academia.

Achieving ultra-low- or zero-energy architecture necessitates in-depth research at each stage of a building’s lifecycle, including "design, production, construction, use, demolition, and reuse." This involves multiple disciplines, such as architecture, building services and energy management, building materials and construction, and urban and rural planning. There is an urgent need to strengthen interdisciplinary collaborative research efforts.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest trends in ultra-low- and zero-energy buildings in the context of climate change, including but not limited to the following topics:

  • High-performance building envelope technologies.
  • Renewable energy integration in buildings.
  • Energy efficiency in building systems.
  • Formulating energy-efficient design strategies adapted to future climates.
  • The correlation between a building’s form and its energy consumption.
  • Carbon emissions assessment throughout a building's lifecycle.
  • The coupling of urban microclimate and building energy models.
  • Indoor thermal environments in the context of climate change.

Prof. Dr. Fei Guo
Prof. Dr. Stephen Siu Yu Lau
Prof. Dr. Andreas Matzarakis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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

  • ultra-low-energy buildings
  • zero-energy buildings
  • climate change
  • zero carbon
  • whole lifecycle

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 6614 KB  
Article
Influence of Local Microclimate Conditions on Indoor Thermal Comfort: The Example of Historical Urban Structure Located in the Central Part of Lodz (Poland)
by Anna Dominika Bochenek, Katarzyna Klemm and Konrad Witczak
Energies 2026, 19(3), 662; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19030662 - 27 Jan 2026
Viewed by 831
Abstract
Progressive climate change and building morphology influence the specific microclimate of built-up areas. This has a fundamental role in research on energy use and thermal comfort inside buildings. Most studies using data for dynamic energy simulation are based on information collected at meteorological [...] Read more.
Progressive climate change and building morphology influence the specific microclimate of built-up areas. This has a fundamental role in research on energy use and thermal comfort inside buildings. Most studies using data for dynamic energy simulation are based on information collected at meteorological stations in rural areas. This can lead to erroneous predictions. The main goal of the study was to combine two simulation tools—ENVI-met for microclimate predictions around historical building layouts, and DesignBuilder for assessing indoor comfort. Illustrating the impact of input data on simulation results was conducted using three types of weather data: (1) from a field campaign, (2) from a suburban station, and (3) from the typical meteorological year. The obtained results confirm that the highest precision was achieved in analyses where information obtained at a real scale in the city centre was used as boundary conditions (field measurements: MAPE = 0.6 °C, RMSE = 0.7 °C). The next step was to estimate the thermal sensations inside the living room of the existing residential building. Thermal comfort was determined using the operative temperature as an indicator. Incorporating realistic urban weather inputs enhanced the reliability of indoor comfort modelling and provided a more accurate basis for planning thermal resilience in historic residential buildings. Full article
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22 pages, 3946 KB  
Article
Numerical Analysis of Thermal Performance of PCM-Containing Honeycomb Wallboard for Building Energy Harvesting
by Yifan Zhang, Yusheng Yang, Lei Zhou, Gang Lei, Zhenhua Wei and Liangliang Zhang
Energies 2025, 18(21), 5720; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18215720 - 30 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 907
Abstract
This study investigates a wallboard integrating encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) within aluminum honeycomb cells to reduce building energy consumption. The thermal performance of a concrete wall enhanced with this PCM-honeycomb composite was evaluated under varying weather conditions through a two-dimensional heat transfer [...] Read more.
This study investigates a wallboard integrating encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) within aluminum honeycomb cells to reduce building energy consumption. The thermal performance of a concrete wall enhanced with this PCM-honeycomb composite was evaluated under varying weather conditions through a two-dimensional heat transfer model. The thermal improvement of PCM is revealed in a comparative analysis of three distinct building envelope materials, i.e., concrete, concrete covered by the honeycomb wallboard, and concrete covered by the honeycomb wallboard containing PCMs. The results demonstrated that the PCM-honeycomb wallboard effectively delays and reduces peak cooling loads. The proposed system lowered building energy consumption by 28.46% and 32.12% in energy consumption over the entire summer season (and 5.76% and 6.27% over one year), respectively, compared to these reference cases. Among the tested PCMs, RT25 was identified as the most effective. The results confirm that incorporating PCM-infused honeycomb wallboards into building envelopes is a viable strategy for passive, year-round temperature regulation. Full article
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29 pages, 9815 KB  
Article
Evidence-Based Optimization of Urban Block Morphology for Enhanced Photovoltaic Potential
by Jie Zheng, Yihan Ma, Wei Zhang, Yan Jiao, Tiantian Du, Jizhe Han and Yukun Zhang
Energies 2025, 18(18), 4946; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18184946 - 17 Sep 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1107
Abstract
Urban morphology is a critical determinant of photovoltaic (PV) potential in cities, yet current design practices rarely incorporate this relationship systematically. Existing studies often struggle to balance analytical precision with computational efficiency and to translate data-driven insights into practical design implementation, limiting the [...] Read more.
Urban morphology is a critical determinant of photovoltaic (PV) potential in cities, yet current design practices rarely incorporate this relationship systematically. Existing studies often struggle to balance analytical precision with computational efficiency and to translate data-driven insights into practical design implementation, limiting the role of morphological optimization in zero-energy urban transitions. To address these challenges, this study develops a three-stage computational workflow: (1) a lightweight surrogate model that replaces computationally intensive physical simulations to efficiently quantify multidimensional morphological impacts on PV potential; (2) an optimization algorithm that integrates the surrogate model to identify optimal urban configurations; and (3) a design translation framework that converts analytical outputs into actionable planning strategies. A case study in Tianjin demonstrates the method’s effectiveness, identifying floor area ratio (FAR) as the most influential parameter (β = 0.969, p < 0.001) and deriving optimal morphological values (FAR = 4.02; Shape Coefficient = 0.23) which yield substantial PV potential improvements of 13.9%–56.9% in new developments and 8.0% in retrofit scenarios. This generalizable method offers planners and policymakers an evidence-based tool applicable across diverse urban contexts, advancing the integration of morphological and energy optimization in the pursuit of zero-energy cities. Full article
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