The increasing adoption of solar power plants requires the consideration of different aspects involved in the transformation of landscape. In this view, recent studies encourage public engagement and landscape integration strategies in the decision-making process to ensure an accepted and inclusive energy transition. However, there is limited knowledge on how to include landscape considerations in the planning processes, specifically on public perception and values. This work aims to assess five licensed solar farms in the region of Central Macedonia (Greece) based on the opinion of the inhabitants. The paper presents the results of an online and onsite questionnaire administered in different villages around the study area in October 2022. The survey utilized the potential benefits and impacts, as well as siting criteria and spatial configuration strategies, taken from literature to describe public perception and preferences. The methodology consists of three phases: investigation of public perception on solar farms; operationalization of the results to make them spatially explicit; overall suitability of the areas and mitigation strategies. The results illustrate the prioritization of the perceived impacts and benefits of photovoltaic installations and highlight the different levels of suitability of the areas and possible mitigation measures. The proposed approach is complementary to the planning processes taking into account societal considerations.

The construction sector, also thanks to digital implementation, can contribute significantly to the control and reduction of the environmental impacts of building products and components. This article presents an open and inclusive workflow to assess environmental sustainability starting from Building Information Modelling in IFC format integrated with data on environmental impacts. By simplifying the readability of the data and exploiting the BIM model to highlight strengths and weaknesses in the life cycle of a window, a prototype software application has been developed, aiming to encourage not only conscious choices by clients but also sustainable innovations by manufacturers of building materials and components.

The construction industry produces several negative environmental impacts. To promote solutions that reduce these negative impacts, it is crucial to increase awareness among all parties involved in the supply chain. Currently, certification protocols, environmental labels and declarations are the most common tools for promoting sustainability in the construction industry. However, these tools are generally non-mandatory and require specific competencies to thoroughly understand and interpret their outputs, especially for non-specialized users in sustainability assessment. This paper presents a tool for visualizing environmental impacts directly through a Building Information Model, by assigning different colours to model objects according to their environmental performances. Understanding environmental performances data is thus more accessible to non-expert users. Unlike several BIM LCA integration studies that primarily focus on the needs of designers, this contribution considers the perspective of manufacturers. The developed tool focuses on building products and has been carried out with the Autodesk Revit BIM authoring platform and its VPL-based Dynamo plug-in. Through the combination of 3D models and histograms, the tool facilitates manufacturers to visualize with real time updates which phase of a product life cycle requires sustainable innovation, which sub components or process determine the major environmental impacts and calculate the environmental cost indicator of a product.