Characterisation of energy poverty in Mexico using energy justice and econophysics

Abstract

The exploitation of limited energy resources can generate socio-economic inequalities calling for a combination of justice with the socio-technical study of modern energy systems to advance its understanding and remediation. Within this context, this paper uses energy justice and econophysics as theoretical and methodological frameworks to discuss issues of energy poverty in Mexico. The results emerging from this research illustrate that, according to data from 2014, around 61 % of Mexican households suffered from energy poverty due to issues of accessibility or affordability of modern energy services and fuels (with 11.54 % of households facing both types of energy poverty). This paper provides a novel approach that combines advanced quantitative methods based on econophysics, with conceptual frameworks from social sciences like energy justice to discuss issues of energy poverty in Mexico. Furthermore, this research performs an approximation to energy consumption in Mexican households based on monetary expenditure, the heat value of fuels and unit prices during 2014. These methods contribute to the understanding and characterisation of household energy needs and energy consumption in Mexico, reducing the existing gap in the academic literature on the analysis and critical thinking of energy poverty in Global South contexts (specifically in Latin America).