Building Physics and How to Save Energy in Buildings

Saving energy in buildings is critical in reducing the carbon footprint of human activities, conserving energy resources, and reducing energy costs. Adequate quality of life is not a luxury, but a necessity for the well-being and productivity of building occupants. Both energy-efficient design and retrofitting of buildings is crucial for creating a more sustainable future and improving the quality of life for building occupants. Building Physics is a field that focuses on understanding the physical phenomena that occur within buildings and how they impact energy use and indoor environmental quality. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the need to improve the energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality of buildings to address the challenges of climate change, energy security, and human health and comfort.

The Research Topic “Building Physics: How to save Energy in buildings” presents state of the art results aimed at improving building energy performance and indoor environmental quality. The goal of this Research Topic is to highlight and promote research aimed at improving energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality in buildings through a better understanding of building physics. The Research Topic aims to bring together different findings, experiences, and perspectives on how building physics can contribute to energy savings and enhanced indoor environmental quality, and thus serving as a platform for cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas and experiences, and a catalyst for future research in the field of building physics and energy efficiency.

This Research Topic publishes advances in non-structural performance of a building including heat, air, and moisture, in addition to sound and light. Articles should report advances in theoretical and simulation methods fully validated using proper experimentation, or the application of numerical or theoretical methods for the analysis of new technology and materials and innovative designs. This Research Topic covers a broad range of topics including:

- Building interactions with the indoor environment, occupants, and allied building materials, components, and sub-systems

- Innovative building materials and their impact on energy performance

- Heat, Air and Moisture transfer modeling

- Indoor environmental quality, including health and thermal comfort vis-à-vis energy

- Energy sustainability, resilience, and climate adaptability of buildings

- Application of solar and other renewable energy sources in buildings

- Integration between non-structural building systems

- Evaluation and control of indoor thermal and lighting systems

- Natural, mechanical, and mixed ventilation

- Measures for energy efficiency for HVAC and other technical systems in various built environments

- Heat recovery systems in buildings

- Life cycle energy efficiency of buildings and embodied energy

Keywords: building physics, saving energy, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.