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From the 2000s onward, construction practices of urban residential buildings in China have shown a material transformation from clay brick to aerated concrete block. Moreover, the consumption of insulating materials for buildings has been increasing due to the new requirements in building energy-saving standards. This transformation and the increased consumption of insulating materials might have a vital impact on a building’s thermal comfort and its associated energy flows. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the indoor thermal performance of urban residential buildings built with different materials and further discuss the correlations between indoor thermal comfort and the associated energy input.

This study investigated four residential buildings selected from four residential communities located in the cold climate zone of China. The Integrated Environment Solutions program was used to evaluate the thermal comfort levels and to quantify the operational energy consumption of the case study buildings. Additionally, the University of Bath’s Inventory of Carbon and Energy database was used to estimate the embodied energy consumption and CO₂ emissions.

The study found that materials transition and increasing consumption did not necessarily improve indoor thermal comfort. However, the materials transition has significantly decreased the embodied energy consumption of urban residential buildings. Furthermore, the increased utilization of insulating materials has also decreased the heating and cooling energy consumption. Therefore, overall, the environmental impacts of urban residential buildings have been reduced significantly.

In the future, residential buildings completed in the 1990s will need regular maintenance, such as adding insulation. Residential buildings completed based on the latest energy-saving requirements should optimize their ventilation design, for example, by increasing the ventilation rate and by reducing solar heat gains in the summer.

This paper investigates the effects of the materials change on thermal comfort levels and the environmental impacts of urban residential buildings in the cold climate zone of China, as these have not been the focus of many previous studies.

As a typical resource energy-intensive industry, the scale of construction industry has been expanding rapidly owing to the large-scale urbanization and the economic booming in China, which results in a sharp increase in the energy consumption of construction industry. However, it is infeasible to mitigate the energy consumption by reducing the production activities of construction industry. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of construction industry is essential for energy saving. Construction industry has close relationships with other industries. The production activities have not only consumed a great deal of energy but they have also generated a massive energy consumption from other industries. Previous literature studied the efficiency of energy consumed directly by the construction industry. However, no research has been found focusing on the efficiency of energy consumed directly by the construction industry and indirectly by the related industries. The purpose of this paper is to put forward a total energy efficiency evaluation framework to measure the energy efficiency of construction industry in depth.

This paper employs the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method and the framework of embodied energy efficiency (EEE) to establish a total energy efficiency evaluation model. Next, the comprehensive analysis of direct energy efficiency (DEE) and EEE in different provinces with various levels of urbanization and various economic levels is conducted.

The results show that the embodied energy intensity and its regularities differ greatly between provinces. From the comparison of DEE and EEE, the provinces of Zhejiang and Jiangsu remain DEA-effective and Hainan is the only province in which the EEE is higher than DEE in 2002, 2007 and 2012. Besides, the DEE and EEE in the provinces with higher levels of urbanization and high economic levels are not more effective than those in the provinces with relatively lower levels of urbanization and low economic levels.

Previous literature studied the efficiency of energy consumed directly by the construction industry while ignoring the energy consumed indirectly by the related industries. Besides, no research has been found focusing on the regulation of energy efficiency in different provinces with different levels of urbanization and different economic levels. It can be concluded that the increasing levels of urbanization and higher economic levels have not brought development and benefits for improving DEE and EEE. Therefore, under the condition that the self-regulation of construction industry and market fail to facilitate the improvement of DEE and EEE in China, policymakers should develop policies and market incentive mechanism to encourage construction industry for employing new technologies to improve the energy efficiency. Since the EEE can reveal the energy efficiency in depth, the evaluation method of EEE should be paid more attention. Besides the fact that the EEE is lower than the DEE in almost all provinces, except Hainan province, the industrial structure is essential to develop the EEE. Hence, improving the energy structure, increasing the energy efficiency and developing new and renewable energy are the basic energy strategies in China.

Energy is a resource of strategic importance for high density cities. International trade reshapes the urban economy and industrial structure of a city, which will indirectly affect energy use. As an international trade hub, Hong Kong relies on the import and export of services. Energy performance in the international trading of these services needs to be properly understood and assessed for Hong Kong’s urban renewal efforts. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

This study evaluates Hong Kong’s embodied energy in service trades based on an input-output analysis. The three criteria used for assessment include trading areas, industry sector and trade balance.

Analyzed by region, results show that Mainland China and the USA are the two largest sources of embodied energy in imports of services, while Mainland China and Japan are the two largest destinations of exports. In terms of net embodied energy transfer, Hong Kong mainly receives net energy import from Mainland China and the USA and supplies net energy export to Japan, the UK and Taiwan. Among industry sectors, manufacturing services, transport and travel contribute most significantly to the embodied energy in Hong Kong’s imported services, while transport and travel contribute most to the energy embodied in exported services.

This study identifies the characteristics of energy consumption of service trading and establishes a feasible approach to analyze energy performance of service trade in energy-deficient Hong Kong for the first time. It provides necessary understanding and foundation for developing energy strategies in a service-based, high density urban economy.

Multisensory stimulation is integral to experiential consumption. However, a gap persists between recognition of the importance of multisensory stimulation and the research techniques used to study the effects of such stimulation on consumption experiences. This article draws on sensory anthropology to narrow the gap.

Sensory anthropology has the potential to help consumer researchers understand multisensory stimulation and its effect on consumption experiences. To highlight this potential, ethnographic fieldwork is reported for two related experiential settings: yacht racing and adventure racing.

It is shown how consumer researchers can apply concepts and data collection techniques from sensory anthropology to derive powerful insights into consumption experiences. A set of guidelines and examples is derived from the embodied concepts associated with sensory anthropology, namely, kinaesthetic schema, bodily mimesis, the mindful body and local biology. These concepts are used to comprehend how consumers experience sensations phenomenologically, understand them culturally and re-enact them socially.

By acknowledging and engaging the senses, researchers can acquire embodied information that would not be evident from the conventional interview, survey or experimental data. Sensory anthropology adds to what is known from psychological, social and cultural sources to enable organisations to differentiate their offerings by means of the senses and sensory expressions, not only in yacht and adventure racing but potentially in many other experiential settings, such as travel, shopping, entertainment and immersive gaming.

This article offers distinct and original methodological insights for consumer researchers by focusing on concepts and data collection techniques that assist the study of experiential consumption from an embodied and corporeal perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to re-evaluate the sustainable attitude-behavior gap by reconsidering the cognitive-rational aspects of consumer purchase behavior. We aim to show how companies can benefit from focusing on hedonic aspects of consumption in their marketing of sustainable products. We claim that consumer culture research needs to examine the link between hedonic, aesthetic, and cognitive-rational aspects of sustainable consumption.

We use the electric vehicle marketing strategy in the United States as an example of an approach to bridge the attitude-behavior gap. More specifically, we focus on the car manufacturer Tesla as an example of marketing a sustainable product.

We find that Tesla’s marketing strategy focuses on aesthetics and hedonics-ludic performance. Similarly to other luxury cars, Tesla markets itself with a full compliment of consumer benefits. Compared to economical electric vehicles, sustainability is not the primary focus of Tesla’s marketing communication strategy.

Sustainable consumption theory benefits from examining the interlinking of hedonic, aesthetic and cognitive-rational aspects product purchasing and use. Future research in the development of sustainable consumption theory in additional complex product categories is needed.

Greater regard for consumer experience in sustainable consumption offers the potential for additional strategies to bridge the attitude-behavior gap and marketing of sustainable goods.

We move beyond the attitude-behavior gap by not only focusing on expressed attitudes of sustainability, but also focusing on the hedonic aspects at play in sustainable consumption.

The consumer acculturation literature argues that reconstituting familiar embodied practices from the culture of origin leads to a comforting sense of home for consumers who move from one cultural context to another. This paper aims to extend this thesis by examining further dimensions in migrant consumers’ experiences of home culture consumption.

This paper analyses data gathered through multi-modal depth interviews with Southeast Asian skilled migrants in New Zealand through the conceptual lens of embodiment.

Building on Dion et al.’s (2011) framework of ethnic embodiment, the analysis uncovers home culture consumption as multi-layered experiences of anchoring, de-stabilisation and estrangement, characterised by convergence and divergence between the embodied dimensions of being-in-the-world, being-in-the-world with others and remembering being-in-the-world.

This paper underscores home culture consumption in migration as an ambivalent embodied experience. Further research should investigate how other types of acculturating consumers experience and negotiate the changing meanings of home.

Marketers in migrant-receiving and migrant-sending cultural contexts should be sensitised to disjunctures in migrants’ embodied experience of consuming home and their role in heightening or mitigating these disjunctures.

This paper helps contribute to consumer acculturation theory in two ways. First, the authors show how migrants experience not only comfort and connection but also displacement, in practices of home culture consumption. Second, the authors show how migrant communities do not only encourage cultural maintenance and gatekeeping but also contribute to cultural identity de-stabilisation.

This study aims to consider how research methodologies and methods can afford holistic inquiry into gendered embodied consumption. Noting the salience of gender in past and present discourse surrounding the body and building on poststructuralist feminist hermeneutic philosophy and practice, the authors introduce a novel methodological framework situated within three considerations borne of the current socio-cultural landscape: the politics of embodiment, embodied identity and intersectionality.

To assist scholars and practitioners in interpreting themes of gendered embodiment in textual data surrounding consumption topics, the authors orient the framework around three principles of listening, questioning and hospitality. This framework fosters embodied empathy by linking the researcher’s body to those of research participants. To illustrate the method, the authors interpret consumption narratives extracted from semi-structured interviews with 26 women-identified recreational runners on the topics of embodiment, sport and media.

The interpretations of gendered consumption narratives show that using the principles of listening, questioning and hospitality invites an understanding of consumers as multifaceted, contradictory and agentic. The authors argue that consumers’ everyday experiences are often simple and quiet but embedded in history wherein bodies are both biological and inescapably social.

The methodological framework allows both the researcher’s and research participants’ embodiment to play a role in the research process. It also illuminates the entanglement of embodiment and consumption in a fraught, politicized context. The authors show that by listening to consumers, questioning their narratives and traditional interpretations thereof and inviting consumers to feel comfortable and heard, researchers can see what other approaches may overlook.

It is a well-known fact that global warming is the extraordinary threat facing the world. The main reasons of these are human activities. Human beings have been contributing to the global warming in different ways for many years. Right material and product selection are some of the most important factors in the process of eliminating the negative effects of constructions on the natural environment and users. The life cycle of building materials involves the processes in which the products are extracted from the source. These processes are the stages of production, transportation, construction, use, demolition and destruction. Making wrong decisions in the selection and use of building materials may cause negative effects in the environment. The major purpose of this study is to to examine the embodied energy of of the traditional and comtemporary building materials according to the characteristics of the local climate. It will answer the question of; “What the embodied energy of a house was in the past and now” in Northern Cyprus. It will help to find out building materials with low embodied energy. There is no published database prepared for or in Northern Cyprus. In order to measure and evaluate the embodied energy of buildings and construction products in the world, there are no integrated systems in the Northern Cyprus at this point, while different countries have unique systems depending on the environmental, economic and social conditions of those countries. Measuring and controlling the environmental performance of environmental development is essential for the sustainable development of the Northern Cyprus.

By using the The Inventory of Carbon & Energy (ICE) program the embodied carbon statuses, embodied energy and transport energy and manufacture energy were discussed for each building material. As a result of this research it was found that locally produced or locally existing materials do not always give the best result in terms of embodied energy all the time. The energy consumption of building materials used in buildings and their associated carbon emissions will assist in the selection of environmentally friendly materials.

The construction industry is tasked with creating sustainable, efficient and cost-effective buildings. This study aims to develop a building information modeling (BIM)-based multiobjective optimization (MOO) model integrating the nondominated sorting genetic algorithm III (NSGA-III) to enhance sustainability. The goal is to reduce embodied energy and cost in the design process.

Through a case study research method, this study uses BIM, NSGA-III and real-world data in five phases: literature review, identification of factors, BIM model development, MOO model creation and validation in the architecture, engineering and construction sectors.

The innovative BIM-based MOO model optimizes embodied energy and cost to achieve sustainable construction. A commercial building case study validation showed a reduction of 30% in embodied energy and 21% in cost. This study validates the model’s effectiveness in integrating sustainability goals, enhancing decision-making, collaboration, efficiency and providing superior assessment.

This model delivers a unified approach to sustainable design, cutting carbon footprint and strengthening the industry’s ability to attain sustainable solutions. It holds potential for broader application and future integration of social and economic factors.

The research presents a novel BIM-based MOO model, uniquely focusing on sustainable construction with embodied energy and cost considerations. This holistic and innovative framework extends existing methodologies applicable to various buildings and paves the way for additional research in this area.

While most efforts to combat climate change are focussed on energy efficiency and substitution of fossil fuels, growth in the built environment remains largely unquestioned. Given the current climate emergency and increasing scarcity of global resources, it is imperative that we address this “blind spot” by finding ways to support required services with less resource consumption.

There is now long overdue recognition to greenhouse gas emissions “embodied” in the production of building materials and construction, and its importance in reaching targets of net zero carbon by 2050. However, there is a widespread belief that we can continue to “build big”, provided we incorporate energy saving measures and select “low carbon materials” – ignoring the fact that excessive volume and area of buildings may outweigh any carbon savings. This is especially the case with commercial real estate.

As the inception and planning phases of projects offer most potential for reduction in both operational and embodied carbon, we must turn our attention to previously overlooked options such as “build nothing” or “build less”. This involves challenging the root cause of the need, exploring alternative approaches to meet desired outcomes, and maximising the use of existing assets. If new build is required, this should be designed for adaptability, with increased stewardship, so the building stock of the future will be a more valuable and useable resource.

This points to the need for increased understanding and application of the principles of strategic asset management, hitherto largely ignored in sustainability circles, which emphasize a close alignment of assets with the services they support.

Arguably, as the built environment consumes more material resources and energy than any other sector, its future configuration may be critical to the future of people and the planet. In this regard, this paper seeks to break new ground for deeper exploration.