Introduction The advent of COVID-19 has impinged millions of people. The increased concern of the virus spread in confined spaces due to meteorological factors has sequentially fostered the need to improve indoor air quality. Objective This paper aims to review control measures and preventive sustainable solutions for the future that can deliberately help in bringing down the impact of declined air quality and prevent future biological attacks from affecting the occupant’s health. Methodology Anontology chart is constructed based on the set objectives and review of all the possible measures to improve the indoor air quality taking into account the affecting parameters has been done. Observations An integrated approach considering non-pharmaceutical and engineering control measures together for a healthy indoor environment should be contemplated rather than discretizing the available solutions. Maintaining social distance by reducing occupant density and implementing a modified ventilation system with advance filters for decontamination of viral load can help in sustaining healthy indoor air quality. Conclusion The review paper in the main, provides a brief overview of all the improvement techniques bearing in mind thermal comfort and safety of occupants and looks for a common ground for all the technologies based on literature survey and offers recommendation for a sustainable future.

Increasing energy demand in buildings with a 40% global share and 30% greenhouse gas emissions has accounted for climate change and a consequent crisis encouraging improvement of building energy efficiency to achieve the combined benefit of energy, economy, and environment. For an efficient system, the optimization of different design control strategies such as building space load, occupancy, lighting, and HVAC becomes inevitable. Therefore, interdisciplinary teamwork of developers, designers, architects, and consumers to deliver a high-performance building becomes essential. This review aims to endorse the importance of Building Performance Simulation in the pre-design phase along with the challenges faced during its adaptation to implementation. A morphology chart is structured to showcase the improvement in Building Energy Efficiency by implementing Building Performance Simulation for different building energy systems and by implementing various energy efficiency strategies to achieve the 3E benefit. As a developing nation, India still lacks mass application of Building Performance Simulation tools for improving Building Energy Efficiency due to improper channelizing or implementation; thus, this framework will enable the designers, architects, researchers to contemplate variable building energy optimization scenarios.

The use of solar energy in water heating applications, such as in solar-assisted heat pump systems, has great benefits, such as reductions in heat transfer losses, control over incident solar heat, and generation of environmentally benign water heat. In the present study, we performed parametric optimization based on an experimental model of a solar-assisted heat pump system for water heating (SAHPSWH) in the context of colder climatic regions receiving minimal solar radiation. Various parameters were investigated, such as the different glazing arrangements, the distances between fluid-circulating tubes, and the absorber sheet arrangement. The results showed that double glazing was more efficient than single glazing, with average COP values of 3.37 and 2.69, respectively, and with similar heat gain rates. When the evaporator tube was soldered below the absorber plate, the COP was 1.19 times greater than when the tube was soldered above the absorber plate. We also analyzed whether the collector efficiency factor F′ has an inverse relationship with the tube distance and a direct relationship with the absorber plate thickness. Through this experimental study, we verified that the SAHPSWH is reliable if designed judiciously. This promising energy-saving system is particularly suitable for areas abundant in solar radiation, such as in India, where the needs for space conditioning and water heating are constant.

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