Luminescence for the built environment: from lighting to urban heat island mitigation purposes

The need for reducing the environmental impact of the building sector in terms of both energy consumptions and greenhouse gases emissions has led to the development of several types of materials characterized by tailored properties for optimizing surface energy balance of urban surfaces. Among the most acknowledged cool materials, photoluminescent ones are gaining credit not only for their sustainable lighting contribute, but also for their passive cooling potential. The discovery of new phosphors with good afterglow qualities, in terms of intensity and duration, produced promising performances for different applications. In this context, the present chapter investigates the multidisciplinary potential of photoluminescence in energy and environmental strategies, after presenting a general background on the phenomenon itself. The most common techniques for the materials' analysis are also presented, followed by the description of engineering solutions for both indoors and outdoors.