Energy efficiency in educational buildings: A systematic review of smart technology integration and occupant behaviour

Research on occupant behaviour is a vital component of building energy-saving studies. The use of smart technologies in buildings, particularly during occupancy hours, has a substantial impact on energy consumption. This study aims to examine energy consumption patterns across various spaces in mixed-use educational buildings and identify potential sources of energy waste through an extensive literature review. The PRISMA protocol was applied to define key terms and extract all relevant papers from the database. The review focuses on publications from 2010 to July 2024, indexed in the Web of Science database, and includes 70 selected papers. By synthesizing state-of-the-art research, this review provides an overview and practical guidelines for stakeholders and decision-makers looking to implement smart technologies. The findings indicate that environmental factors and personal factors are positively correlated when integrating smart systems, with both significantly influencing heating energy use. Among environmental factors, social environmental factors were also found to have a significant impact on energy consumption. This study highlights opportunities for the future integration of smart technologies, emphasizing their flexibility across diverse applications. The findings contribute to establishing more reliable assessment criteria for analysing occupant behaviour as part of a comprehensive energy policy framework for the education sector. The study also underscores the importance of widespread adoption of rooftop photovoltaic panels, which are critical for informing engineering design, creating evidence-based benchmarks, optimizing energy systems, and guiding policy decisions to achieve net-zero energy campuses in the UK educational sector.