In recent years a steadily increasing interest has been noticed, concerning the development of advanced materials for both buildings and the urban environment. The aim of the present work is to examine the performance of inorganic coatings as a passive solar technique that contributes to buildings' energy efficiency. A number of inorganic coatings are developed. The materials used for the coatings' developed are characterized using XRD and DTA to verify their composition. Their optical properties, i.e. the solar reflectance and infrared emittance are then measured while the samples were also exposed to the outdoor environment for surface temperature measurements. Finally the energy efficiency of the specific coatings are evaluated in an insulated and non-insulated building using ESP-r modelling tool. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.