Occupant behavior controls a building’s energy system to adapt the indoor environment, significantly increasing building energy consumption. Occupant behavior, which refers to the occupancy inside a building and their interaction with building systems (windows, blinds, thermostats, lighting and appliances, etc.), has been largely overlooked in building energy performance analysis. These factors make it essential to design sustainable buildings. It is widely acknowledged in the literature that there is an alarming performance gap between the estimated and actual energy consumption in buildings. This paper proposes a systematic literature review on energy-related occupant behaviors and their implications for energy performance. It aims to better understand occupant behavior, existing behavior modeling approaches and their limitations, and key influential parameters on building energy performance. It is based on a survey of ScienceDirect, Web of science and Scopus scientific databases, using their bibliometric analysis tools together with the VOSviewer software. Finally, this study identifies the following significant research gaps for future development: limitations of the generic and robust occupant behavior model; lack of actual data for validation; lack of research on different types of buildings (institutions, university buildings); limitations of considering all factors which influence occupant behavior; missing the detailed realistic situations of occupant behavior; integrating building information modeling (BIM) into building energy modeling.

The world population increased from 1 billion in 1800 to around 8 billion today. The Population Division of the United Nations predicts a global population of approximately 10.4 billion people by the end of the century. That represents over 2 billion more people. Moreover, the global community is currently experiencing a precarious state due to the enduring repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic across all sectors, including energy. Given the rising global population and the limited availability of primary energy resources, we must reach a balance between the demands of a growing human population and the planet’s carrying capacity. The dreadful conflict in Ukraine has precipitated an enormous energy crisis. This crisis has served as a warning to the world population of how much it depends on this resource to survive. In France, the building sectors, specifically residential and tertiary, account for 45% of the total final energy consumption. It is the first energy consumer of the country and one of the most polluting (i.e., about 34% of ${\mathrm{CO}}_2$ emitted by France). Consequently, we must consider alternative energy resource forms (i.e., substitution energy forms). Harvesting energy from the building envelope may be a viable technique for partially satisfying the electricity demands of building users. In this context, scientific research offers considerable potential for developing more innovative and efficient systems. This article aims to review the state-of-the-art of advances on the subject to orient and further optimize energy production systems, particularly electricity. This work addresses several points of view: it discusses the overall backdrop of the present study and introduces the subject; details the research strategy and procedures used to produce this paper; develops the state-of-the-art on the potential for generating or recovering power from the building envelope; presents the SWOT analysis of the earlier-described systems. Finally, it concludes by offering findings and viewpoints.

The world population increased from 1 billion in 1800 to around 8 billion today. The Population Division of the United Nations predicts a global population of approximately 10.4 billion people by the end of the century. That represents over 2 billion more people. Moreover, the global community is currently experiencing a precarious state due to the enduring repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic across all sectors, including energy. Given the rising global population and the limited availability of primary energy resources, we must reach a balance between the demands of a growing human population and the planet’s carrying capacity. The dreadful conflict in Ukraine has precipitated an enormous energy crisis. This crisis served as a warning to the world population of how much they depend on this resource to survive. In France, building sectors (i.e., residential and tertiary) alone consume 45% of the final energy disposable. It is the first energy consumer of the country and one of the most polluting (i.e.; about 34% of CO2 emitted by France). Consequently, we must consider alternative energy resource forms (i.e.; substitution energy forms). Harvesting energy from the building envelope may be a viable technique for partially satisfying the electricity demands of building users. In this context, scientific research offers considerable potential for developing more innovative and efficient systems. This article aims to review the state of the art of advances on the subject to orient and further optimize energy production systems, particularly electricity. This work will address several points of view: Discusses the overall backdrop of the present study and introduces the subject ; details the research strategy and procedures used to produce this paper ; develops state of the art on the potential for generating or recovering power from the building envelope ; presents the SWOT analysis of the earlier-described systems. And finally, it concludes by offering findings and viewpoints.

African scientific research faces formidable challenges, particularly with limited access to state-of-the-art measurement instruments. The high cost associated with these devices presents a significant barrier for regional research laboratories, impeding their ability to conduct sophisticated experiments and gather precise data. This predicament not only hampers the individual laboratories but also has broader implications for the African scientific community and the advancement of knowledge in developing nations—the financial cost barrier considerably impacts the research quality of these laboratories. Reflection on technical and economical solutions needs to be quickly found to help these countries advance their research. In civil Engineering, the thermal conductivity property is the most important measurement for characterising heat transfer in construction materials. Existing devices (i.e., conductometers) in a laboratory are expensive (approximately 30,000 euros) and unavailable for some African laboratories. The study proposes a new and affordable device to evaluate thermal conductivity in construction materials. The method involves establishing a thermal flux between a heat source ( from the Joule effect provided by steel wool where a current is circulating) and a cold source (generated by ice cube) under steady-state conditions. The development of the cylindrical prototype is based on the comparative flux-meter method outlined in the measuring protocol of the ASTM E1225 standard document. Experiments were conducted on four distinct materials (polystyrene, wood, agglomerated wood, and rigid foam). The results indicate a correct correlation between the experimental values obtained from the newly developed prototype and the reference values found in the literature. For example, concerning the experimental polystyrene study, the detailed case analysis reveals a good correlation, with a deviation of only 4%. The percent error found falls within the acceptable range indicated by the standards recommendations of the ASTM E1225 standard, i.e., within 5% acceptable error.

African scientific research faces formidable challenges, particularly with limited access to state-of-the-art measurement instruments. The high cost associated with these devices presents a significant barrier for regional research laboratories, impeding their ability to conduct sophisticated experiments and gather precise data. This predicament not only hampers the individual laboratories but also has broader implications for the African scientific community and the advancement of knowledge in developing nations—the financial cost barrier considerably impacts the research quality of these laboratories. Reflection on technical and economical solutions needs to be quickly found to help these countries advance their research. In civil engineering, the thermal conductivity property is the most important measurement for characterizing heat transfer in construction materials. Existing devices (i.e., conductometers) in a laboratory are expensive (approximately EUR 30,000) and unavailable for some African laboratories. This study proposes a new and affordable device to evaluate thermal conductivity in construction materials. The method involves establishing a thermal flux between a heat source (from the Joule effect provided by steel wool where a current is circulating) and a cold source (generated by ice cubes) under steady-state conditions. The development of the cylindrical prototype is based on the comparative flux-meter method outlined in the measuring protocol of the ASTM E1225 standard document. Experiments were conducted on four distinct materials (polystyrene, wood, agglomerated wood, and rigid foam). The results indicate a correct correlation between the experimental values obtained from the newly developed prototype and the reference values found in the literature. For example, concerning the experimental polystyrene study, the detailed case analysis reveals a good correlation, with a deviation of only 4.88%. The percent error found falls within the acceptable range indicated by the standard recommendations of the ASTM E1225 standard, i.e., within 5% acceptable error.