Renewable Energy Integration Strategies for Buildings and Districts Decarbonisation

The building sector is responsible for a significant share of final energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, largely because many buildings still depend on fossil-based energy systems for their daily operation. At the same time, buildings and urban districts represent one of the most promising areas for accelerating the energy transition, as they can combine energy efficiency, renewable energy production, and demand-side flexibility.The decarbonisation of the built environment cannot be achieved only through isolated interventions at the single-building level. Improving building performance and deploying renewable energy technologies are essential steps, but their impact can be significantly increased when they are planned as part of wider district-scale strategies. At this scale, buildings can interact with each other and with local energy infrastructures, enabling more efficient use of renewable energy, shared resources and flexible energy management.Despite the rapid development of renewable energy technologies and smart energy solutions, their effective integration in buildings and districts remains challenging. Renewable energy production does not always match local demand, and its deployment is often limited by spatial, technical and economic constraints. Moreover, the growing electrification of heating, cooling and mobility is strengthening the link between buildings, electricity grids and urban energy infrastructures. These changes call for integrated planning, modelling and control approaches that can support technically sound, economically feasible and socially acceptable decarbonisation pathways.This Research Topic aims to advance knowledge on renewable energy integration strategies for the decarbonisation of buildings and districts. It welcomes contributions addressing methods, technologies, planning approaches and real-world applications that support the transition from isolated building-level interventions to integrated, flexible and renewable-based district energy systems.We welcome Original Research articles, Review articles, Mini-Reviews, and Perspectives, dealing with the design, modelling, assessment, and implementation of renewable energy strategies in buildings and districts.Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:• Renewable energy integration in residential, commercial, and public buildings.• Building and district decarbonisation strategies based on electrification and renewable energy systems.• Photovoltaic, solar thermal, geothermal, biomass, and hybrid renewable systems for the built environment.• Heat pumps, thermal storage, and smart control strategies for low-carbon buildings.• District heating and cooling networks supplied by renewable and waste heat sources.• Energy communities, collective self-consumption, and positive energy districts.• Demand-side flexibility, building-to-grid interaction, and energy storage solutions.• Modelling, simulation, and optimization of renewable-based building and district energy systems.• Techno-economic, environmental, and life-cycle assessment of decarbonisation strategies.• Case studies and demonstration projects on renewable energy integration at building and district scale. Topic editors: Lorenzo Mario Pastore, Antonio Sgaramella Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82077/renewable-energy-integration-strategies-for-buildings-and-districts-decarbonisation