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Summary: Globally, record weather temperatures and changing climatic patterns, attributed partly to energy use and related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, indicate that the issue of global warming cannot be marginalized. In most countries buildings account for a significant share of the total final energy consumed and are responsible for associated CO2 emissions. In response to market needs and demands for social, economic, and environmental sustainability of housing in developed and developing countries, the Zero-Energy Mass Custom Home (ZEMCH), integrating lean design and sustainable construction concepts, was envisaged and discussed internationally. To deliver a marketable and reliable near-zero-energy/emission-conscious mass custom home, various key design, technological, production and marketing, and delivery and operational parameters need to be optimized harmoniously. This book compiles recent research articles of ZEMCH International Research 2020. A wide range of ZEMCH topics, including building envelope evaluations, occupant choice and experience, indoor environmental quality, automated control systems, mass customization, and integration of renewable energy, on both building and urban scales are covered. It aims to address current questions as well as present challenges and opportunities for continuous development of built environments for users with diverse socio-economic backgrounds and cultural differences in developed and developing countries.

Summary: Based on five Special Issues in Coatings, this e-book contains a series of 15 articles demonstrating actual perspectives and new trends in advanced coatings in buildings. Innovative materials and multiperformance solutions provide a basis, contributing also to the better protection of buildings' surfaces during the service life, and the users' wellbeing.

Summary: Membrane Distillation (MD) is based on the evaporation of a hot feed through a microporous and hydrophobic membrane. Thermal energy is needed to heat the feed up to the desired temperature during the process. Therefore, improvements of the thermal performance of MD are important to apply this technology at large scale. The Special Issue "Thermal Performance of Membrane Distillation" focuses on the recent research efforts made in this direction, covering both the development of new membranes and the optimization of the process.

Summary: This Special Issue includes 20 contributions from across the world with very interesting and current research topics, such as insulation solutions and CO2 emissions; thermal transmittance of LSF walls; statistics for China's building energy consumption; natural ventilation; thermal behavior of an earthbag building; thermal performance and comfort in a vernacular building; overheating risk under future extreme weather conditions; analytical methods to estimate the thermal transmittance of LSF walls; model simplification on energy and comfort simulation analysis; Trombe wall thermal behavior and energy efficiency of an LSF compartment; new metering hot box for in situ hygrothermal measurement; mechanical and thermal performance of compressed earth blocks; life-cycle assessment of a new house; energy analyses of Serbian buildings with horizontal overhangs; thermal properties of mortar blocks by using recycled glass; prediction of cooling energy consumption building using machine learning techniques; occupants' behavior, climate change, heating, and cooling energy needs of buildings; a new method for establishing a hygrothermally controlled test room; nonintrusive measurements to incorporate the air renovations in dynamic models; and retrofit of existing buildings with aerogel panels.

Summary: This Special Issue provides an overview of the applied experimental and numerical flow, models, which are used to investigate fluid flow in complex situations. The investigated problems are related to fundamental processes or new applications. As demonstrated, the field of the application of experimental and numerical flow models is constantly expanding.

Summary: This reprint collects works which stimulate and spread the latest knowledge on energy in construction and building materials, providing the basis for new ideas on various topics for young investigators as well as leading experts in the field of Materials Science and Engineering. The collection features fifteen research papers and one review study. The main research aim covers the topic of thermal energy storage in construction and building components.

Summary: Energy systems are transiting from conventional energy systems to modernized and smart energy systems. This Special Issue covers new advances in the emerging technologies for modern energy systems from both technical and management perspectives. In modern energy systems, an integrated and systematic view of different energy systems, from local energy systems and islands to national and multi-national energy hubs, is important. From the customer perspective, a modern energy system is required to have more intelligent appliances and smart customer services. In addition, customers require the provision of more useful information and control options. Another challenge for the energy systems of the future is the increased penetration of renewable energy sources. Hence, new operation and planning tools are required for hosting renewable energy sources as much as possible.