With the pressing need for holistic solutions that can help in overcoming the imminent environmental and resources crises, a call for the conservation of natural resources and sustainable strategies is needed. Sustainable strategies allow for the mitigation against the impact of climate change on the environment while, simultaneously, seeking the health and comfort of users. Another environmental issue that is worthy of the attention of the scientific research community is the reduction of resources consumption, through the implementation of sustainable development concepts and the use of renewable sources of energy generation. These two aforementioned paradigms are both intrinsic in nature and essential for the thriving of humanity. Hence, this issue aims at investigating sustainable strategies and approaches for the preservation of natural resources through a variety of case studies.

This issue illustrates, through cases studies, how strategies such as biomimicry, shading devices, rooftop photovoltaic systems among others, can be integrated into the design of both industrial and residential buildings. The aim of such strategies is to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions while making use of renewable solar energy in reducing our dependency on energy intensive active building services systems such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). The issue also discusses the conservation of the most important of natural resources: freshwater. It highlights the issue of water scarcity and proposes a schema for the positioning of freshwater research.

The need to conserve our natural resources is very crucial to the support of human life by maintaining an ecological balance and ensuring that future generations will be able to access those resources. The challenges that our natural environment is facing today, such as pollution, global warming and resource depletion need to be given their due attention.

Published: 2020-12-30

Research Papers