Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026
07:12
Façade-Level Monitoring of CO2 Variability under Urban Heat Island Conditions using Low-Cost Sensor Data Loggers
Published on: December 12, 2025
A global, proxy-based assessment of building climatization vulnerability
P Florio1, J H Uhl2, P Politis3
1European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy. pietro.florio@ec.europa.eu.
Scientific Reports
|July 28, 2026
Summary
Global building stock analysis reveals that older, less compact buildings, primarily in high-income nations, are energy inefficient. Future climate change will disproportionately affect low-income countries, increasing energy demand and hindering thermal comfort.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Urban Planning
- Building Science
Background:
- Building compactness and construction epoch are key indicators of building energy efficiency.
- Global building stock characteristics significantly influence energy consumption and climate vulnerability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To globally characterize building stock by integrating building data and Earth observations.
- To identify vulnerable areas with old, non-compact buildings facing climate change impacts.
- To analyze disparities in building energy efficiency across socioeconomic and climate factors.
Main Methods:
- Integration of building stock data with Earth observation data for global building characterization.
- Identification of vulnerable regions based on building age, compactness, and climate conditions.
- Analysis of population distribution and projected changes in vulnerable areas.
Main Results:
- Approximately 43% of global buildings were constructed before 1980, lacking energy efficiency measures, and are concentrated in high-income countries' temperate and cold urban areas.
- Vulnerable areas with old, non-compact buildings house 48 million people, projected to increase by 10-30% by 2100, shifting towards heat-prone regions.
- Low-income countries face increased energy demand and adaptation challenges due to recent, less compact urban expansion in warming climates.
Conclusions:
- Building stock characteristics, particularly age and compactness, are critical for energy efficiency and climate adaptation.
- Significant disparities in building energy efficiency exist globally, influenced by income, urbanization, and climate.
- Future climate warming poses substantial risks to energy demand and thermal comfort in vulnerable, low-income regions.
Related Concept Videos
01:50Global Climate Change
Throughout its ~4.5 billion year history, the Earth has experienced periods of warming and cooling. However, the current drastic increase in global temperatures is well outside of the Earth’s cyclic norms, and evidence for human-caused global climate change is compelling. Paleoclimatology, the study of ancient climate conditions, provides ample evidence for human-caused global climate change by comparing recent conditions with those in the past.
01:27Microbes and Climate Change
Microorganisms are pivotal agents in Earth's biogeochemical cycles, significantly influencing climate dynamics through their metabolic activities. These microbes modulate the levels of key greenhouse gases by both contributing to and helping mitigate climate change.Microbial Contributions to Greenhouse Gas EmissionsRising global temperatures accelerate microbial metabolism, which, in turn, speeds up the decomposition of organic matter. This process releases carbon dioxide (CO₂) through...
01:16What is Climate?
Climate refers to the prevailing weather conditions in a specific area over an extended period. As the saying goes, “Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” Climate is influenced by geographic factors, such as latitude, terrain, and proximity to bodies of water.
01:26Design Example: Sustainability in Concrete Building
As the construction industry moves towards more eco-friendly practices, concrete's adaptability and its ability to incorporate sustainable features make it a key material in the drive towards greener building solutions.
There are multiple approaches to achieve sustainability in a commercial concrete building. For instance, construct a concrete parking area under the building, utilizing pervious concrete paver blocks in open areas to facilitate rainwater collection through an underground cistern.
There are multiple approaches to achieve sustainability in a commercial concrete building. For instance, construct a concrete parking area under the building, utilizing pervious concrete paver blocks in open areas to facilitate rainwater collection through an underground cistern.
01:23Insulation Coordination
Insulation coordination is the process of matching electric equipment's insulation strength with protective device characteristics to protect the equipment against expected overvoltages. This selection is based on engineering judgment and cost. Equipment can generally withstand short-duration high transient overvoltages, but repeated tests with identical waveforms can yield inconsistent results. As a result, standard impulse voltage waveforms are used for testing, defined by specific times for...
01:17Design Example: Analyzing Capacity Contours for Flood Risk Assessment
Flood risk assessment involves careful planning and analysis to ensure the safety of communities near water retention structures. Capacity contours are a vital tool in this process, as they illustrate the potential spread of water at specific levels in a given area. In the context of building a bund across a small valley, these contours play a critical role in evaluating the safety of nearby residential areas.In this example, the bund is intended to store stormwater in the valley. The engineers...