ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 12

PREFACES Hasim Altan, Alberto La Tegola Dear Colleagues and Friends, We are glad to come together in Lecce, Italy at the 4th Annual Conference of the Zero Energy Mass Custom Home (ZEMCH) Network on 22nd-25th September 2015. ZEMCH 2015, in its fourth year, is an annual global interactive forum for intellectual discussion on the problems and delights of design, manufacturing and marketing surrounding the delivery of low CO2 and ultimately, Zero Energy Houses that are customisable on a mass scale, either built or under construction in developing and developed countries. The conference is covering topics involving Mass Customisation and Sustainability in the Built Environment. ZEMCH Network was established in 2010 by a zero energy mass custom home research group to accelerate both research and development of socially, economically and environmentally sustainable homes in global contexts. The emerging concept of mass customisation is now crossing borders into other types of buildings, and therefore the emphasis is now on more than just housing, covering the built environment. Presently, the network consists of 450 partners from over 40 countries. This Conference Proceedings consist of many informative and comprehensive scientific abstracts and papers, which are featured as oral presentations. Therefore, it provides a good opportunity to become familiar with the most recent research in sustainable development. The Proceedings covers many valuable studies and 64 full-papers presented at the Parallel Sessions over the entire conference. The objective of these ZEMCH conference series is to promote research and developments of Sustainability in the Built Environment as can be also seen from the wide areas of topics including many disciplines. We are happy to produce such a nice Proceedings, which can be used in future scientific explorations. Publication of selected papers in one of the below-listed reputable journals will be done among the studies being at this Proceedings: • Engineering Sustainability • Open House International • Sustainable Buildings Please note that the selected papers will be subject to journal peer-reviewing. On behalf of the organisers, we would like to appreciate everyone who contributed to this Proceedings. 10 ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy