Abstract
Energy poverty—involving a combination of factors, such as low household incomes, high energy prices, and low levels of residential energy efficiency—is identified as a complex and increasing issue affecting people’s physical health, well-being, and social inclusion. Even though a shared identification of energy poverty is not yet agreed, this phenomenon has been recognized as an EU priority. Several EU legislative documents address the topic, trying to outline its boundaries and provide a framework for mitigative actions. At the same time, different research and demonstration projects have been funded to experiment and evaluate innovative approaches, strategies, and solutions and to promote good practices at national, regional, and local levels. This review paper presents some results of the “ZOOM” project (“Energy zoning for urban systems. Models and relations for the built environment”, funded by University of Bologna in the framework of Alma Idea 2017–ongoing), proposing a critical overview of the EU projects directly or indirectly connected to energy poverty—funded under the 7th Framework Program (FP7) and under Horizon 2020 Program (H2020). The aim of such a review is to highlight the main objectives, trends, and related topics of ongoing and concluded projects addressing energy poverty, in order to identify gaps and open issues and to understand the possible orientation and placement of this subject in the future EU research and innovation framework project, Horizon Europe.
Highlights
In recent years, Energy poverty has been recognized as an extensive and increasing issue that is impacting on people’s living standards and rights
Current EU legislation does not require Member States to adopt a common identification of energy poverty, but it does require them to define the concept of ‘vulnerable customers’—who may include individuals at risk of or in energy poverty—in order to comply with the requirements stemming from the Third Energy Package
The analysis aims at providing an overview of the possible future placement of the energy poverty subject within the targets and the key strategic orientations of Horizon Europe—the
Summary
Energy poverty has been recognized as an extensive and increasing issue that is impacting on people’s living standards and rights. It has attracted growing policy and academic interest in Europe. Common pan-EU indicators of energy poverty are not yet agreed upon, and various definitions of energy poverty are adopted both in literature and across EU countries [5,6]. Current EU legislation does not require Member States to adopt a common identification of energy poverty, but it does require them to define the concept of ‘vulnerable customers’—who may include individuals at risk of or in energy poverty—in order to comply with the requirements stemming from the Third Energy Package.
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