Buildings are responsible for huge amount of energy consumption for cooling in hot regions. Energy efficient material wall and window glass materials can reduce power consumption for cooling. This laterite stone, dense concrete, burnt brick and mud brick are used as building materials. The experimentally measured optical properties of four glass materials such as clear glass, bronze glass, green glass and bronze-reflective glasses have been presented in this paper. Spectrophotometer was utilised to measure the spectral optical properties in the infrared region. The heat gain in the building due to placing of window in four orientations (East, West, North and South) was analyzed for Mangalore city (12.870N, 74.880E) in Karnatka state, India. The building models were simulated in Energy plus tool for thermal performance. Total two fifty six building models were investigated. The mud brick buildings were observed to be the most energy efficient as they allow the least heat gain inside the building at all window to wall ratios. Use of reflective glass for the glazing of the window reduces cooling loads in buildings. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd.