The Internet of Things (IoT) is expanding rapidly, with billions of interconnected devices, ranging from basic sensors to sophisticated actuators, gathering, computing, and sending data. Such systems often provide valuable insights or help control the domain of operation, therefore playing well in the sustainable development paradigm. It is not uncommon for these devices to operate under strict constraints for power usage, bandwidth, and computational capacity. Given these limitations, such IoT systems must communicate reliably and ensure a given quality of service, remain energy efficient, and have the capacity to provide sustainability, even though these modern IoT ecosystems do not always function within an environment with a stable connection. This work examines key IoT communication protocols, focusing on their suitability for constrained environments and analyzing energy efficiency, scalability, security, and latency trade-offs. Special emphasis is placed on lightweight application-layer protocols such as MQTT, CoAP, and AMQP and evaluation of their performance under different conditions. Existing research highlights industry interest in multiprotocol interoperability. However, dynamic switching of application-layer protocols based on evolving network conditions remains an underexplored area. This work identifies key research gaps, particularly in thorough data transfer measurements, minding security overhead, quality of service (QoS) mechanisms, and real-time protocol adaptation on resource-limited static devices. The study concludes by proposing future directions for dynamic multiprotocol frameworks that enhance energy efficiency and reliability in large-scale IoT deployments.