The Role of Straw Materials in Energy-Efficient Buildings: Current Perspectives and Future Trends

Abstract

The need to effectively control and reduce energy consumption in buildings has become a global concern, prompting an increasing number of studies on the energy efficiency of straw buildings. However, previous review articles on straw research have primarily focused on fragmented material properties such as thermal insulation and mechanical strength and have lacked a comprehensive review of straw materials in building energy efficiency, as well as a thorough analysis of the development lineage of straw building materials. To fill this research gap, this study conducted a bibliometric analysis of 338 papers on the energy efficiency of straw materials published in the WOS core database between 1992 and 2022. The study constructed and visualized multifaceted co-occurrence networks representing the research literature on the energy efficiency of straw building materials, providing a comprehensive understanding of current research efforts, development trends, hot research directions, and the development lineage of this field since 1992. The study’s conclusions suggest that the next research hotspots in this area will be the whole life-cycle of straw materials and their compounding, performance, and application to construction. By tracing the development lineage and clarifying the relationship between the macroscopic building environment and microscopic straw materials, this study offers better predictions of the future development prospects of straw buildings. These findings provide researchers with valuable insights into current research efforts and future research directions in this field, while also serving as a reference for governments seeking to formulate relevant policies for the energy-efficient design of buildings made of straw materials.