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Building energy efficiency and sustainability

Building energy efficiency and sustainability is a research topic within Building and Construction. Science Explorer counts 5.1k research works in it since 1953. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to energy efficiency in building construction, including sustainable architecture, fire resistance, thermal insulation, renovation management, environmental engineering, precast residential buildings, ventilation systems, and urban renewal.

  • Energy Efficiency
  • Building Construction
  • Sustainable Architecture
  • Fire Resistance
  • Thermal Insulation
  • Renovation Management
  • Environmental Engineering
  • Precast Residential Buildings
  • Ventilation Systems
  • Urban Renewal
Research works
5.1k
fractional, since 1953
In the world top 10%
501
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-43%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Poland
74% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Building energy efficiency and sustainability

Which countries lead Building energy efficiency and sustainability research?

By volume, Poland and Russia publish the most (277 and 19 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Poland 277 works
  2. 2 Russia 19 works
  3. 3 Slovakia 15 works
  4. 4 Ukraine 13 works
  5. 5 Romania 12 works
  6. 6 Czechia 11 works
  7. 7 United States 9 works
  8. 8 China 7 works
  9. 9 Germany 5 works
  10. 10 Italy 5 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Poland: 74.2%Russia: 5.0%Slovakia: 3.9%Ukraine: 3.4%6 others listed: 13.5%74%largest
Poland277 · 74.2%Russia19 · 5.0%Slovakia15 · 3.9%Ukraine13 · 3.4%6 others listed50 · 13.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Building energy efficiency and sustainability research?

By volume in 2022-now, Wrocław University of Science and Technology publishes the most Building energy efficiency and sustainability research, followed by Silesian University of Technology and Warsaw University of Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Wrocław University of Science and TechnologyPoland 31 works
  2. 2 Silesian University of TechnologyPoland 22 works
  3. 3 Warsaw University of TechnologyPoland 15 works
  4. 4 Poznań University of TechnologyPoland 13 works
  5. 5 Kielce University of TechnologyPoland 12 works
  6. 6 Lublin University of TechnologyPoland 12 works
  7. 7 Bialystok University of TechnologyPoland 11 works
  8. 8 Lodz University of TechnologyPoland 10 works
  9. 9 AGH University of KrakowPoland 8 works
  10. 10 Warsaw University of Life SciencesPoland 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Building energy efficiency and sustainability?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Building energy efficiency and sustainability include Anna Kaczmarska and Bert Brunekreef.

  1. 1 Anna Kaczmarska France 114k citations
  2. 2 Bert Brunekreef Netherlands 113k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Building energy efficiency and sustainability?

The most cited paper in Building energy efficiency and sustainability is "Derivation of the adaptive equations for thermal comfort in free-running buildings in European standard EN15251" (Fergus Nicol, Michael Humphreys, 2009), with 521 citations. Next come "Nowa polska norma "Konstrukcje betonowe, żelbetowe i sprężone" - podstawowe różnice pomiędzy PN-B-03264;1984 i PN-B-03264:2002, odnoszące się do zagadnień materiałowych i trwałości konstrukcji" (304) and "Heating energy consumption and resulting environmental impact of European apartment buildings" (262).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Derivation of the adaptive equations for thermal comfort in free-running buildings in European standard EN15251 Fergus Nicol, Michael Humphreys · Building and Environment 8 Jan 2009 521
2 Nowa polska norma "Konstrukcje betonowe, żelbetowe i sprężone" - podstawowe różnice pomiędzy PN-B-03264;1984 i PN-B-03264:2002, odnoszące się do zagadnień materiałowych i trwałości konstrukcji W. Zamorowski, Grzegorz Gremza · Budownictwo Górnicze i Tunelowe 2003 304
3 Heating energy consumption and resulting environmental impact of European apartment buildings Constantinos A. Balaras, Kalliopi G. Droutsa, Elena G. Dascalaki et al. · Energy and Buildings 21 Sep 2004 262
4 Domestic UK retrofit challenge: Barriers, incentives and current performance leading into the Green Deal Mark Dowson, A. H. Poole, David J. Harrison et al. · Energy Policy 15 Aug 2012 258
5 Energy and environmental benefits in public buildings as a result of retrofit actions Fulvio Ardente, Marco Beccali, Maurizio Cellura et al. · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 26 Sep 2010 257
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Building energy efficiency and sustainability research done?

The largest centres of Building energy efficiency and sustainability research in 2022-now are Warsaw (Poland), Wrocław (Poland), Krakow (Poland) and Gliwice (Poland). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Gliwice and Wrocław.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 WarsawPoland 49 works
  2. 2 WrocławPoland 35 works
  3. 3 KrakowPoland 26 works
  4. 4 GliwicePoland 22 works
  5. 5 PoznańPoland 18 works
  6. 6 LublinPoland 15 works
  7. 7 ŁódźPoland 15 works
  8. 8 KielcePoland 13 works
  9. 9 BiałystokPoland 11 works
  10. 10 GdańskPoland 11 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. GliwicePL · 22.0 works191×
  2. WrocławPL · 34.8 works113×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Building energy efficiency and sustainability than the world average.

See Building energy efficiency and sustainability on the map

Where is the best place to study Building energy efficiency and sustainability?

Among universities, judged by research, AGH University of Krakow, Wrocław University of Science and Technology and Silesian University of Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 10.4556%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →AGH University of Kr…Warsaw University of…Silesian University …Wrocław University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1AGH University of KrakowPoland 49.631.2%55.2×8 -68.1%
2Wrocław University of Science and TechnologyPoland 43.83.4%496.7×31 -9.2%
3Silesian University of TechnologyPoland 38.57.3%233.0×22 -34.4%
4Warsaw University of TechnologyPoland 30.89.6%157.4×16 -73.9%
5Lublin University of TechnologyPoland 25.111.8%348.1×12 -41.3%
6Bialystok University of TechnologyPoland 21.314.6%417.8×11 -62.9%
7Kielce University of TechnologyPoland 17.97.4%630.6×12 -15.7%
8Poznań University of TechnologyPoland 14.42.3%230.3×13 -45.7%
9Lodz University of TechnologyPoland 12.06.5%213.1×10 -19.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Building energy efficiency and sustainability, country by country

Is Building energy efficiency and sustainability research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 43% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2015.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Building energy efficiency and sustainability as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0022% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Building energy efficiency and sustainability0.0019% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Building energy efficiency and sustainability over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Building energy efficiency and sustainability10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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