Geospatial energy poverty assessment and clustering for policy prioritization

Assessing global energy poverty: An integrated approach

There are increasing concerns that energy poverty across nations is weakening the global efforts toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A systematic assessment of energy poverty is, therefore, essential to track the spatiotemporal pattern of SDG 7 and monitor the global efforts in alleviating energy poverty. This article develops the first Multidimensional Energy Poverty Assessment Index (MEAI), incorporating energy availability, affordability, and efficiency applicable to quantify the spatiotemporal dynamics of energy poverty development at global, regional, and national scales. Our analyses indicate that the overall MEAI and indices in all dimensions decreased from 2001 to 2016 at a global level with energy affordability experiencing the highest decline. The MEAI at the national level declines within the same period, showing significant regional heterogeneity in terms of the sub-index. Energy efficiency in developed and less-developed regions is characterized by high carbon emissions and low energy modernization, respectively. The energy availability indices are lower in developed nations and in nations with abundant energy resources. Overall, our results highlight a sudden increase in MEAI for Central America in 2014 and a gradual decline in MEAI for East Asia during 2014–2016. A call for regional actions is critically needed to solve energy poverty from different facets.

Household energy consumption patterns and its environmental implications: Assessment of energy access and poverty in Nepal

Energy poverty affects numerous households across the globe and has several key implications and concerns for public health and social equity. Energy poverty is defined as “the lack of access to modern and affordable energy services”. Individuals or communities in energy poverty face limitations in accessing reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy. This review paper examines a focused subset of recent research on energy poverty highlighted by the “NSF 2026: Priorities and Research Needs for an Equitable Energy Transition” workshop and the United States Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Justice Policy and Analysis to help frame energy poverty’s impacts on policy, poverty alleviation, environmental impact, and social inequity. This review paper uses five themes to organize previous energy poverty work: (1) Energy Poverty and Justice Definitions and Metrics; (2) Behavioral Aspects of Energy Poverty; (3) Efficacy of Energy Assistance Programs; (4) Efficiency of Energy Efficiency Policy; (5) The Energy Transition and Environmental and Energy Justice. We found that the literature examined how comprehensive assessment of energy poverty requires going beyond standard statistics and metrics and must include an understanding of how underserved households interact with energy. We found strong optimism for the clean energy transition’s ability to significantly alleviate energy poverty, but only if policymakers include equity. Finally, we found that while there is plenty of work highlighting deficiencies there is a dearth of work examining successful implementations and how to replicate them which will be needed if the clean energy transition is to match its potential.

Significance of context, metrics and datasets in assessment of multidimensional energy poverty: A case study of Tajikistan

Assessment of energy poverty and key influencing factors in N11 countries

This paper analyses the energy poverty status in off-grid rural households and its underlying socioeconomic factors. Employing the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke Technique and Probit regression on data from 53 households, the study uncovers a diverse array of energy sources in use, including firewood, paraffin, LPG, candles, and generators. Despite this energy source diversity, the poverty line threshold, as measured by the per capita energy expenditure line (92.40 ZAR) (1 US Dollar = ZAR 18.20), reveals the prevalence of energy poverty. Approximately 15% of respondents are experiencing severe energy poverty and 22% are facing moderate vulnerability to energy poverty, while over 50% are not energy poor. This indicates that, although they may lack access to electricity, their energy usage and expenditure in other forms might still be sufficient to meet their basic energy needs. This distinction highlights the importance of assessing energy poverty, extending beyond a simplistic assessment of absolute poverty but taking into account the dynamic nature of income levels. Gender, household size, formal education, and social grants emerge as key indicators shaping the energy landscape in the area. The results clearly indicate that male-headed households and larger households are less susceptible to energy poverty, while increasing formal education and social grants increases the risk of households being exposed to energy poverty. These findings suggest that the problem of energy poverty in the area is uniquely linked to social, economic, and cultural issues. Therefore, interventions targeted at addressing energy poverty problems must address the underlying social, economic, and cultural factors.

This study sought to investigate the effects of household socio-economic factors on energy poverty in Ghana. Strong evidence points to the fact that energy is a driver of economic growth, hence, the presence of energy poverty is a major barrier to achieving the development objectives of any country. A binomial logistic model was used to analyse the effects of parametric factors on energy poverty. Data of 16,048 households from the Ghana Living Standards Survey 6, a nationally representative survey, served as the basis for the logistics analysis. The results showed that the energy poverty rate in Ghana stands at 38% and households spend around 22% of income on modern energy forms. In addition, energy poverty is more prevalent in rural areas with them being 5.7 times more likely to be energy poor. Also, the results indicated that determinants including age and household size had a negative effect on energy poverty while a higher level of education, income, and welfare had non-decreasing effects on energy poverty. The study concludes that a high welfare level reduces the likelihood that a household is energy poor. To close the disparity between the rural and urban areas with regards to energy access, development of off-grid energy schemes should be implemented largely in rural areas. Keywords: Energy Stacking, Logistic Regression, Energy Poverty, Households Welfare. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-16-01 Publication date: August 31 st 2020

Meta-analysis of empirical evidence on energy poverty: The case of developing economies

Energy poverty focuses on energy affordability in developed nations but is most often used in the developing world in the context of a lack of access to electricity, clean cooking fuels, or technologies. About 1.2 billion people still lack access to electricity and nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population lacks access to clean cooking fuels. In addition, climate change mitigation strategies must be applied to a complex and diverse socio-technical landscape that varies across and within countries. Energy poverty is among the most pressing issues to be addressed within these strategies; however, due to the complexity of its causes, there is no commonly agreed upon evaluation approach or holistic set of indicators for its quantitative evaluation. In this study, a comprehensive literature review is undertaken on energy poverty measurement methods and definitions, and factors that cause energy poverty. Through this, exogenous and endogenous factors that are often overlooked in the assessment and prediction of energy poverty are identified. The need for an energy poverty prediction framework is identified, incorporating missing perspectives and elements needed to implement future energy poverty projections to enable proactive policy development. Missing perspectives included an increase in energy demand associated with the development of innovative technologies including artificial intelligence and automation, increasing fuel prices, and exogenous factors such as rising temperatures and increased acute disasters and endemic structural failures associated with climate change leading to employment impacts, all of which may be critical to the accurate prediction of energy poverty.

Measurements and determinants of extreme multidimensional energy poverty using machine learning

Energy poverty is a widespread phenomenon which is mostly attributed to the poor rural households in developing countries. This study was carried out to assess the energy poverty status and as well analyse the determinants of energy poverty among rural households in Kwara State of Nigeria thus providing information that may lead to improvement in the energy use efficiency of the rural households. A four-staged random sampling technique was used to select 150 rural households from Kwara State and were administered a well-structured questionnaire. The study employed the descriptive statistics, expenditure approach and logit regression model to identify the various energy used for cooking by the rural households, energy poverty status and the determinant of energy poverty in the study area, respectively. The result shows that the household stack the various types of energy with majority of them using the combination of modern and transitional energy types, with 59% using the traditional sources of energy and 49% using the modern sources in the past 7days. About 39% of the rural households were energy non poor, years of schooling, distance to energy source and household income significantly influence the energy poverty of the households. Although majority of the rural households spend above the energy benchmark for this study, however, majority of them uses the traditional sources of energy. The study therefore recommended necessity to establish regulatory frameworks for the protection of poor consumers to guarantee access to modern energy sources at affordable prices, which may involve the incorporation of subsidies.

Measurement methodologies are increasingly being deployed to monitor energy poverty or energy access, and to provide insights for policy development, both in the South and more recently also in the North. However, care should be taken with interpretation and use of the data, particularly if a gender perspective is lacking. This paper argues that taking a gender perspective is vital to understanding energy access and outcomes related to interventions, through consideration of gendered user differences in energy needs, access to energy services and gendered outcome pathways. We show that the standard practice of focusing on numbers of energy connections, availability and quality of supply, is insufficient to provide insights relevant to realising gender equal access and benefits. It is a political decision about what is measured and who decides on what is measured. Based on the literature, we discuss key elements of the use of gender approaches in the assessment of energy access and energy poverty. We show that by including gender approaches in the design and execution of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, there is the potential to contribute to more equitable outcomes from improved energy access.

In the European Union, 75% of the residential building stock is estimated to have energy inefficiencies, which increases the probability of falling into energy poverty. Poor thermal conditions reduce the quality of life of dwelling occupants. Renovating the residential building stock is essential to reduce energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and energy poverty in cities. This study aims to assess and map the energy efficiency and energy poverty of residential buildings in Seville at the urban district and census tract level. A total of 45,908 dwellings were evaluated using data from the Energy Performance Certificates database and demographic and economic information from national and official databases. The analysis considers dwelling typology, year of construction, average household income, and geographic location at the district and census tract level. The results show that Seville’s residential building stock performs poorly, with 83% and 92% of dwellings rated “E” or lower for energy consumption and CO2 emissions, respectively. The findings of this GIS-based study help identify urban areas with less efficient buildings and higher energy poverty risk, providing valuable information to develop targeted renovation strategies and reduce the climate impact of Seville’s residential building stock.

The article presents a proposal for individual assessment of energy poverty through a quantitative model for measuring household energy needs. The assessment contains a demographic and technical component, and is an important part of determining normalized household energy expenditure, as part of an official energy poverty line, in addition to income and energy prices. The expenditure-oriented approach to measuring energy poverty has been proven to be the most suitable for the national specifics in Bulgaria. The energy poverty line is necessary when applying financial schemes for crediting measures for energy efficiency of buildings and heating systems of domestic energy consumers in Bulgaria, as part of a comprehensive mechanism to combat energy poverty.