The residential building is a major energy consumer and pollution source worldwide. The shift towards constructing energy-efficient buildings is impelling higher performance. In sustainable building, occupants become a major source of uncertainty in energy consumption. Yet, energy simulation tools often account for occupant behaviour through predefined fixed consumption profiles. Therefore, energy and buildings experts are in need for more precise methods for better forecasting the influence of occupants on the building performance. An activity-based framework for quantifying occupant-related energy consumption is proposed. The energy consumption is quantified per domestic activity as a function of households' socio-demographic and economic attributes. The aggregation of such domestic activity energy consumption provides an accurate estimation of the household energy consumption per daily, monthly and annually periods. First, a literature review about residential energy consumption and the existing modelling approaches is presented. Second, a systematic breakdown structure of energy end-uses is proposed. The activity-based framework is then introduced. An application example is demonstrated together with simulation results. Finally, model's utility is outlined and its possible implications are discussed.The residential sector consumes secondary energy, i.e. electricity and hydrogen produced from primary energy sources such as coal, natural gas, petroleum, nuclear energy and renewable energy sources, which is used by occupants for performing their domestic activities. Several studies pointed out the major end-use groups of secondary energy such as space heating, space cooling, domestic hot water, as well as appliances and lighting [14][15][16][17]. Building's energy consumption is highly dependent on the performance of its systems and the general behaviour of the occupants [18]. According to Robinson [19], the most complex processes taking place within buildings are those that result from human behaviour. Authors such as Emery and Kippenhan [20], Masoso and Grobler (2010), and Guerra-Santin and Itard [21] also reveal occupants' influence on residential energy consumption. Authors such as Page et al. [22], Robinson [19] and Wilke et al. [18] show that the influence of occupants can be modelled by their presence, the actions they perform (activities such as cooking, using light, etc.), as well as their interactions with the controls of inherent building systems designed for adjusting the indoor environment (e.g., lighting and HVAC).