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Zero Energy Building: Policy, Advanced Technologies, Codes and Standards, and...
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Zero Energy Building: Policy, Advanced Technologies, Codes and Standards, and Case Studies

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 March 2023) | Viewed by 8465

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Usha Iyer-Raniga

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Property, Construction and Project Management, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
Interests: sustainability; built environment; ZEB; materials; policy; regulation; energy efficiency; circular economy; education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Shicong Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Environment and Energy, China Academy of Building Research, Beijing 100013, China
Interests: zero energy building; building codes and standards; best practices
Dr. Xinyan Yang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Jianke EET Co., Ltd., Beijing 100013, China
Interests: zero energy building and community; building energy codes; mid-to-long term road map

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The present global trend towards decarbonization under the Paris Agreement encourages regions and economies to explore possible ways to reduce energy intensity and minimize emissions into the environment. The global building sector and the construction industry account for almost 40% of total carbon emissions and 36% of end-use energy. This percentage of total emissions is expected to increase to 50% if energy consumption in buildings continues to grow at current rates.

The promotion of Zero Energy Building (ZEB) was considered the most efficient way in response to these goals in the building sector. This Special Issue will cover the latest progress in policy, technology research, standards, and case studies of ZEB; assist the building industry to harmonize the terms and definitions that are linked to ZEB; discuss potential technical solutions with affordable incremental cost; and how to set minimum requirements to promote the component industry, supporting and nurturing building sector make more contribution to climate change mitigation and carbon emission reduction.

This Special Issue aims to collect contributions that include, but are not limited to, the following topics of interest:

  1. Investigate the current policies and their effects;
  2. State-of-the-art decarbonization technologies;
  3. Study and enforcement of ZEB codes and standards;
  4. Investigation of the current practices of ZEB.

Prof. Dr. Usha Iyer-Raniga
Dr. Shicong Zhang
Dr. Xinyan Yang
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.

Keywords

  • zero energy building
  • nearly zero energy building
  • policy
  • advanced technology
  • code and standard
  • case studies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 9221 KiB  
Article
Quantitative Study on the Life-Cycle Carbon Emissions of a Nearly Zero Energy Building in the Severe Cold Zones of China
by Yangyang Wang, Xinyan Yang, Qingying Hou, Jin Tao and Jiankai Dong
Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1448; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031448 - 27 Jan 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2972
Abstract
This work aimed to quantitatively study the carbon emissions and carbon reduction potential of a nearly Zero Energy Building in a severe cold zone of China from the perspective of its life cycle. The methods were based on China’s “Standard for building carbon [...] Read more.
This work aimed to quantitatively study the carbon emissions and carbon reduction potential of a nearly Zero Energy Building in a severe cold zone of China from the perspective of its life cycle. The methods were based on China’s “Standard for building carbon emission calculation” (GB/T51366-2019), which include the production, transportation, operation, and demolition stages. For the nearly Zero Energy Building, the total carbon emissions over its whole life were 789.43 kg CO2/m2, an 86.20% reduction compared to the 5719.68 kg CO2/m2 for a 65% energy-saving building. The carbon emission percentages of the production stage and operation stage for the building materials are 75.62% and 20.40%, respectively. To enhance the carbon reduction potential, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to explore the impact of the use of a wood structural system, recycled concrete replacement, and photovoltaic power generation. The use of a wood structure system can achieve zero or negative carbon emissions in the production stage. The sensitivity of the carbon emissions of the nearly zero energy building (nZEB) to the increment of photovoltaic power generation is much higher than that of the recycled concrete replacement rate, providing a basis for further exploration of the development of nZEBs into zero carbon buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zero Energy Building: Policy, Advanced Technologies, Codes and Standards, and Case Studies)
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20 pages, 9079 KiB  
Article
Sino-American Building Energy Standards Comparison and Recommendations towards Zero Energy Building
by Yijun Fu, Shicong Zhang, Xi Chen and Wei Xu
Sustainability 2021, 13(18), 10050; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810050 - 8 Sep 2021
Viewed by 2024
Abstract
Building energy conservation has gained tremendous interest since the 1970s energy crisis. Building energy standards have been established as prescribed guidelines for energy savings in buildings worldwide, among which those from China and the United States of America (USA) are representative of their [...] Read more.
Building energy conservation has gained tremendous interest since the 1970s energy crisis. Building energy standards have been established as prescribed guidelines for energy savings in buildings worldwide, among which those from China and the United States of America (USA) are representative of their advanced concept, comprehensive content and prospective guidance. This paper collected and generalized the main building energy standards in China (GB50189, JGJ26, JGJ134 and JGJ75) and the USA (ASHRAE 90.1), in terms of updating history, current status, energy saving potential and future development directions. Furthermore, a qualitative and quantitative comparison of the selected standards was performed. The results show that China has a more intact and comprehensive building energy standard system, better implementation, higher improvement in energy saving rates, and a more perspicacious upgrade towards zero-energy target, which results in effective energy savings in buildings. The ASHRAE standards have more fixed chapter framework, integrity and independence between versions, more detailed classification of building envelope and HVAC systems but less effective energy-saving effect and relatively poor implementation. The actual efficiency of standards in building energy saving is synthetically determined by the standard content, efficient implementation and explicit guidelines for future development, which is achieved through four main procedures. Based on the results, recommendations have been proposed for the future development of building energy standards with the ultimate goal toward zero energy buildings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zero Energy Building: Policy, Advanced Technologies, Codes and Standards, and Case Studies)
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Review

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19 pages, 609 KiB  
Review
Global Policy Review on Embodied Flows: Recommendations for Australian Construction Sector
by Lachlan Curmi, Kumudu Kaushalya Weththasinghe and Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14628; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114628 - 7 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2510
Abstract
There has been a call for the construction industry to become more energy efficient in its planning and activities, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help combat climate change. The Australian Building Codes Board has implemented ‘Energy Efficiency’ standards through the National Construction [...] Read more.
There has been a call for the construction industry to become more energy efficient in its planning and activities, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to help combat climate change. The Australian Building Codes Board has implemented ‘Energy Efficiency’ standards through the National Construction Codes to direct the industry towards net zero emissions goals. However, the Board has maintained a focus on operational flows considerations despite this only being a part of the total expenditure in a building lifecycle. Embodied flows, the energy output, and emissions from harvesting, manufacturing, transporting, and manufacturing materials for a building have not been included as a part of the current standards despite their growing share in the outputs of construction. A qualitative document analysis using data from academic articles and industry publications was performed to identify the context in embodied policy development. Findings reveal an abundance of different legislations and initiatives globally, recommending techniques that may effectively achieve embodied flow reductions. The results highlighted that Australia needs to capitalize on the potential reductions in overall energy and emissions from construction. Other regions have provided a strategic and legislative basis for the industry to emulate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Zero Energy Building: Policy, Advanced Technologies, Codes and Standards, and Case Studies)
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