Thermal-energy analysis of natural “cool” stone aggregates as passive cooling and global warming mitigation technique

The results show differences up to 24% in terms of albedo with varying the only grain size. Additionally, the gravel with the smallest grain size resulted the most performing in terms of summer energy saving and indoor thermal comfort. By shifting from single building scale models to global climate energy balance models, an equivalent carbon emission offset of 4400 tCO2eq was found, imputable to the (i) energy saving contribution, and (ii) global warming mitigation effect produced by the enhanced albedo of the case study area.