ABSTRACT
A growing number of materials technologies that deliberately exploit some aspect of nanotechnology are available to the building industry. Surface coatings of nanoscale thickness or comprising some nanomaterials are a common example. The interest in using these nanotechnologies is driven mainly by two factors: a desire to reduce maintenance costs and/or a need to reduce the energy consumption of a building to the minimum consistent with reasonable comfort for its occupants. Here, we provide an overview of these technologies and offer some comments regarding their performance and relevance within the context of the building industry. Only a somewhat abbreviated account is provided; greater technical detail may be found in the references provided or in the comprehensive work by Smith and Granqvist (2011).
