Worldwide, the consumption of building energy is about one-third of the total primary energy consumption. The top three consumers of building energy are space cooling, space heating, and hot water production. Unfortunately, a significant portion of the energy used in the built environment is generated from fossil fuels and emits excessive CO2, a key contributor to global warming. Hence, prompt measures should be taken to make the buildings sustainable and climate resilient.

To limit the energy consumed by buildings, the International Energy Agency (IEA) recently declared the roadmap for net-zero buildings (NZB). To achieve the ambitious goal of NZB, the development of sustainable and low-energy means for heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) is of utmost importance. Utilization of the latest classes of porous adsorbents (e.g., metal-organic frameworks) and other desiccants to natural refrigerants-based design heating and cooling devices can be considered. Thermal energy storage using advanced phase change materials can also play a pivotal role in abating building energy consumption. Reducing dependency on fossil fuel-based heating appliances by adopting electrically driven heat pumps is also crucial.

This special issue targets articles relevant to building energy to address the challenges to achieving net-zero energy consumption in buildings and make them climate resilient, the scope encompasses the following but is not limited to:

- Any experiment and numerical works on the design of materials and devices, their performance evaluation, and efficiency improvement towards reduction of building energy consumption and achieving net-zero building
- Life cycle analysis of building materials and devices
- Thermal energy storage in buildings
- Simulation of building energy consumption
- Design of energy-efficient HVAC components
- Any other technology development relevant to climate-resilient buildings.

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Frontiers in Energy Efficiency

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