Zhang, TongruiYang, XiaofeiWu, ZhenzhenZhai, GuoliangDoan, DatSun, QingweiGao, Hui2025-10-212025-10-212025-10-16Buildings, ISSN: 2075-5309 (Print); 2075-5309 (Online), MDPI AG, 15(20). doi: 10.3390/buildings152037222075-53092075-5309http://hdl.handle.net/10292/19969As global warming worsens, reducing energy use is becoming increasingly crucial. In recent years, 34% of the world’s energy use has been consumed by buildings. Therefore, improving building energy efficiency is essential for halting climate change and promoting sustainability. In this regard, Building Information Modeling (BIM) is steadily emerging as a valuable tool for promoting energy efficiency. This research adopts a systematic review approach, and 87 articles were included for review. This research identified seven areas in which BIM plays a role in energy efficiency. For each area, workflows for the adoption of BIM were explored. Meanwhile, the advantages and disadvantages of each adoption of BIM were critically examined. In conclusion, visualization is the most helpful feature of BIM and is beneficial for almost all applications. In addition, software compatibility issues and high initial setup costs are the most common drawbacks of adopting BIM. This research makes several contributions to the literature. First, the results of this study help provide a better understanding of the importance of BIM in energy efficiency improvement. Secondly, our research supplements the energy field that identifies seven BIM use categories. Thirdly, this article critically examines the use of BIM in the building energy field.© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).1201 Architecture1202 Building1203 Design Practice and Management3301 Architecture3302 Building4005 Civil engineeringbuilding information modeling (BIM)building energy analysisbuilding energy modelsbuilding lifecycle assessment (LCA)Internet of Things (IoT)Journal ArticleOpenAccess10.3390/buildings15203722