Traditional and innovative materials for energy efficiency in buildings

This chapter shows the most recent and innovative contributions and research trends arounbd the wide issue of energy efficiency in buildings by means of passive techniques, such as new effective materials for building envelope optimization. In particular, cool materials will be dealt with by considering their capability to keep a surface cooler than other solutions when exposed to solar radiation. Then multifunctional materials such as thermal and acoustic insulation panels will be analyzed. Finbally, natural and biobased solutions for energy saving will be investigated. Each one of these topics will be studied by elaborating a first general assessment of each technique and then by analyzing the most recent contributions and research trends in order to provide a wide perspective of the question that is going to be addressed in this chapter. © 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland