1. Building and the urban environment: the foreseeable context

Before discussing the place of nanotechnologies in the world of building and in our urban environment, it's worth taking a brief look at their impact on the two issues that now largely govern technical, legislative and standards guidelines: energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

In 2006, France had around 30 million residential dwellings –, including 17 million single-family homes –, and a further 10 million commercial properties. In the same year, the building sector alone consumed 44% of our total end-use energy, with transport accounting for around 32%. The 30 million homes – including 17 million single-family homes – and the 31 million vehicles owned by the French therefore together account for over 75% of the country's final energy consumption.