The increasing energy consumption in buildings due to cooling and heating, accounting for over one-third of the total energy consumption in society, has become a growing concern. Therefore, reducing building energy consumption has become an urgent issue for countries worldwide. Windows serve as the primary channel for energy exchange between the indoor and the outdoor environments. While providing natural lighting for occupants, windows are also the weakest link in terms of energy consumption. In recent years, there have been some new and superior coating glass technologies compared to traditional low-emissivity glass. These coatings utilize various optical functional materials to regulate the incident sunlight, aiming to save cooling and heating energy consumption. Materials, such as tungsten-based compounds, vanadium dioxide, lanthanum hexaboride, or copper monosulfide, can absorb near-infrared light to effectively control solar radiation by leveraging the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect of nanoparticles. This paper mainly introduces the micro-mechanisms of these materials and provides a detailed summary of the latest advancements in coating materials. The application and effects of these coatings in building energy conservation are emphasized. Finally, the challenges and prospects of LSPR-based smart windows are discussed. It is expected that this review will provide new insights into the application of smart windows in green buildings.

Research on the experienced utility of commuting time is dominated by an individualistic view of choice concerning the trade-offs between long commutes and job- or housing-related benefits. The widely discussed phenomenon of the commuting paradox shows that individuals systematically report worse subjective wellbeing as commuting time increases over time, indicating the incomplete trade-offs and net disutility for long commutes at the individual level. This paper takes a household perspective and conducts one of the first longitudinal studies on the gendered relationship between commuting time and subjective wellbeing in China. Drawing upon the China Health and Nutrition Survey between 2006 and 2015, we used seemingly unrelated regression models and fixed-effect models not only to compare the within-individual effect but also to investigate the spill-over effect of commuting time on life satisfaction between matched samples of husbands and wives. We additionally examined the role of preschool-aged children and co-residence with their grandparents in the gendered commuting-wellbeing relationship. The results supported the individual-level commuting paradox, considering that both partners had lower levels of life satisfaction with the increase of their own commuting time. Interestingly, husbands’ life satisfaction was more negatively affected by wives’ commuting time than vice versa, while wives’ commuting utility was more related to the great time pressure from childcare and the social support from extended family members. Our research findings have implications for urban planning and governance policies which aim at mitigating job-housing mismatch, delivering accessible childcare services and transforming gendered social norms.