The loss of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers in agricultural runoff is a global environmental problem, attracting worldwide attention. In the last decades, the constructed wetland has been increasingly used for mitigating the loss of nitrogen and phosphate from agricultural runoff, while the substrate, plants, and wetland structure design remain far from clearly understood. In this paper, the optimum substrates and plant species were identified by reviewing their treatment capacity from the related studies. Specifically, the top three suitable substrates are gravel, zeolite, and slag. In terms of the plant species, emergent plants are the most widely used in the constructed wetlands. Eleocharis dulcis, Typha orientalis, and Scirpus validus are the top three optimum emergent plant species. Submerged plants (Hydrilla verticillata, Ceratophyllum demersum, and Vallisneria natans), free-floating plants (Eichhornia crassipes and Lemna minor), and floating-leaved plants (Nymphaea tetragona and Trapa bispinosa) are also promoted. Moreover, the site selection methods for constructed wetland were put forward. Because the existing research results have not reached an agreement on the controversial issue, more studies are still needed to draw a clear conclusion of effective structure design of constructed wetlands. This review has provided some recommendations for substrate, plant species, and site selections for the constructed wetlands to reduce nutrients from agricultural runoff.
The window-to-wall ratio (WWR) significantly affects the indoor thermal environment, causing changes in buildings’ energy demands. This research couples the “Envi-met” model and the “TRNSYS” model to predict the impact of the window-to-wall ratio on indoor cooling energy demands in south Hunan. With the coupled model, “Envi-met + TRNSYS”, fixed meteorological parameters around the exterior walls are replaced by varied data provided by Envi-met. This makes TRNSYS predictions more accurate. Six window-to-wall ratios are considered in this research, and in each scenario, the electricity demand for cooling is predicted using “Envi-met + TRNSYS”. Based on the classification of thermal perception in south Hunan, the TRNSYS predictions of the electricity demand start with 30 °C as the threshold of refrigeration. The analytical results reveal that in a 6-storey residential building with 24 households, in order to maintain the air temperature below 30 °C, the electricity required for cooling buildings with 0% WWR, 20% WWR, 40% WWR, 60% WWR, 80% WWR, and 100% WWR are respectively 0 KW·h, 19.6 KW·h, 133.7 KW·h, 273.1 KW·h, 374.5 KW·h, and 461.9 KW·h. This method considers the influence of microclimate on the exterior wall and improves the accuracy of TRNSYS in predicting the energy demand for indoor cooling.