Energy poverty in Portugal, Italy, and Norway: awareness, short-term driving forces, and barriers in the built environment

Abstract

Portugal, Italy, and Norway differ by energy performance of buildings and gross domestic product (GDP). Portugal has significantly highest thermal discomfort with harsher winters. In 2021, 80% of Portuguese buildings had a low energy rating, with 75% of buildings without thermal insulation, highly contributing to the energy poverty (EP) of the country. In Italy, despite a generally mild climate, the building stock has low thermal performance. The most affected areas are the suburban and peri-urban ones, with an EP rate in southern regions between 13% and 20% compared to 8.8% at national level. Moreover, 65% of buildings were constructed before the first law on energy saving criteria and a 25% of it has never undergone any work of maintenance or improvement. Norway, despite the limited studies performs well respect to other European Economic Area and European Union countries, in investing and using indicators to enhance and monitor the green energies’ use. Because of energy price growth, seasonal price fluctuations, and different energy tariffs, energy inequality is increasing. EP risk is underestimated, masked by Norway’s high GDP and regional price disparity. Energy inequality is increasing due to energy price growth, seasonal price fluctuations, and energy prices’ geographical inequality. The barriers in reducing EP are the underestimation of risk masked by the high GDP, and the need of homogenized prices in Norway. This study provides an overview to discuss EP awareness and it assesses the drivers and barriers that influence building’s energy efficiency renovation.