Special paper selection in sustainability in energy and buildings

Citation

Howlett, B. and Maleviti, E. (2012), "Special paper selection in sustainability in energy and buildings", International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Vol. 6 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijesm.2012.32806baa.002

Special paper selection in sustainability in energy and buildings

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Energy Sector Management, Volume 6, Issue 2

The International Conference in Sustainability in Energy and Buildings 2010 (SEB-10), took place in Brighton, UK over 6-7 May 2010. SEB-10 was the second conference in the series organised by the KES International knowledge transfer organisation (www.kesinternational.org). The conference provided an opportunity for researchers working on the technology of sustainable buildings, and techniques leading to more efficient energy use in them, to present their work. The event also attracted papers from a wider range of renewable energy topics to provide context and background.

From the papers presented at the conference, four were selected for extension into full journal papers for this special paper selection specifically on the topic of sustainability in energy and buildings.

Maria-Christina Georgiadou and Theophilus Hacking (University of Cambridge, UK) contributed “Strategies and techniques to future-proof the energy performance of housing developments”. Their paper presents best practice building strategies and sustainability-orientated techniques and tools that can be beneficially used to assess the energy performance of housing developments. The intention is to construct guidelines to be applied to the building design and construction process from the early stages of the project.

Rusdy Hartungi and Liben Jiang (University of Central Lancashire, UK) provided the second paper for the selection on “Energy efficiency and conservation in an office building: a case study”. The papers describes an investigation of an office building in the UK to determine how the application of recent energy efficiency technology will lead to energy conservation at a level that is in full compliance with UK building standards and regulations (known as Part L). The paper generalises on the outcome of the case study to lead to observations about efficient building design.

While the achievement of energy efficiency in new build houses and offices is very important, attention also needs to be given to the improvement in energy use the existing housing and commercial building stock. Eckhart Hertzsch, Christopher Heywood (University of Melbourne, Australia) and Mirek Piechowski (Meinhardt Australia Pty Ltd) provided the third paper entitles “A methodology for evaluating energy efficient office refurbishments as life cycle investments”. The paper describes a methodology to analyse existing office buildings in terms of energy use, energy rating, and investment. The investment value was evaluated using a life-cycle based analysis through several investment options.

As an alternative the to application of technology, the final paper describes a “human” approach to attaining energy efficiency. The contribution of Eva Maleviti (Technical Education Institute of Trikala, Greece), Yacob Mulugetta and Walter Wehrmeyer (University of Surrey, UK) is entitled “Energy consumption and attitudes for the promotion of sustainability in buildings: the case of hotels”. The paper describes the effects of promoting a regime of changes in the behaviour of guests in hotels in Greece through the policy of the management. The paper shows the reduction in energy use that such a strategy can have.

The four papers were selected to show different aspects and approaches to the reduction of energy use in buildings. As such they provide an interesting account and complement each other well.

Bob Howlett, Eva MalevitiGuest Editors