Influence of cool materials on building energy demand at district scale

Since 2007, more than half of world population lives in urban areas and its activity leads to an increase of building energy demand notably in summer. The temperature rise of densely built areas is mainly due to landscaping and anthropogenic heat fluxes such as air conditioning systems. Acting on urban landscaping, building density, surface albedo or green area can mitigate the urban heat island with direct and indirect improvement of building energy performances.