Testimonial

Today, it is widely accepted that climate change is a global phenomenon. Not only is the average temperature rising, but heatwaves are becoming more frequent and more intense. In addition, the built environment is not really adapted to climate change, including extreme heat. Thus, further studies are necessary not only to analyze how building design will impact the climate, but also how the future climate should impact building design to minimize the adverse effects of extreme heat.
This challenge is complicated by the fact that good building design strives to achieve a number of objectives in terms of energy use and the quality of indoor environments, which are often in conflict with each other. Thus, managing conflicting criteria in building design optimization is a real challenge that needs to be addressed. It results in the necessity to optimise energy efficiency and indoor environment quality of buildings in the context of climate change. This can be addressed through smart building design and more precisely low carbon design.
On the other hand, building physics, comprising the passive building envelope and active heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, and the control of these passive and active systems is a very complex scientific field, owing to the diverse physical phenomena encountered. The problems to solve are further complicated by unsteady and/or coupled systems as well as spatial and temporal scales of very dissimilar levels. In addition, the environment in which the building is located can be aggressive or even hostile, but it can also be an asset for low-carbon design, through the generation of renewable energy, for example.
In this context, this book covers the essential elements of building physics, such as coupled heat transfers, the outdoor conditions to which buildings are subjected, the quality of indoor environments, renewable energies associated with buildings, and even the city scale and beyond.
This book will be very useful not only for acquiring fundamental knowledge and skills, but also as a valuable guide to developing smart solutions for designing low carbon buildings adapted to future changes.
To conclude, the content of this book reflects the background and skills of its author, who is an experienced and globally recognized scientist in teaching, research, and the design of buildings and urban settlements.

Prof. Christian Inard,
Vice president for research,
La Rochelle University, France.