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Energy efficiency in buildings is a vital subject within sustainable construction and climate change mitigation, yet comprehensive bibliometric analyses mapping the complete evolution of this domain remain limited. This study provides a comprehensive four-decade analysis (1981–2025) of building energy efficiency research using data from the Web of Science database, employing VOSviewer (1.6.20), Bibliometrix (4.3.0), and custom Python (3.12.3) scripts with automated terminology normalization through TF-IDF vectorization (n-grams 2–3) and cosine similarity algorithms (threshold = 0.75). Two critical methodological innovations distinguish this investigation: first, Pruned Exact Linear Time changepoint detection statistically validated 2011 as the field’s statistically validated transition point (Mann–Whitney U test, p < 0.000001, effect size = 2.48), replacing arbitrary decade-based periodization; second, computational keyword harmonization enabled precise thematic evolution mapping across inconsistent terminology. The analysis reveals marked increase in research post-2011, with median annual output increasing from 15 articles (1981–2011) to 840.5 articles (2012–2024), and China emerging as the preeminent research center with 2978 publications. Thematic evolution analysis demonstrates fundamental transformation from seven specialized research themes (i.e., behavior, heat-transfer, simulation, impact, performance, consumption, optimization) in the foundational period to dramatic consolidation into two dominant themes (i.e., performance and simulation) in the contemporary period, reflecting maturation from fragmented, component-focused investigations toward holistic, integrated frameworks. International collaboration network analysis identifies four distinct geographic clusters with China, United States, United Kingdom, and Italy serving as central hubs. These findings provide actionable intelligence for researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders, while the computationally enhanced framework offers a replicable methodology for bibliometric analysis in other rapidly evolving interdisciplinary domains.
Bungău et al. (Thu,) studied this question.