The Effect of an Energy Refurbishment Scheme on Adequate Warmth in Low-income Dwellings

Sowoo Park,Doosam Song,Joowook Kim

doi:10.3390/su11092574

Abstract

Many fuel poverty support programs have been implemented in the world. Energy-efficient retrofitting in low-income households is a main aspect of support programs in the context of energy saving, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and improvement of the thermal comfort and health of residents. This study analyzed the effects of an energy efficiency program for fuel poverty in Korea on the thermal comfort of residents. A total of 330 households were investigated wherein energy retrofits had been conducted. Indoor temperatures in the main bedroom and in the living room were recorded twice. The results showed that the average indoor air temperature in the surveyed households was 15.1 ± 3.7 °C, indicating that 95.2% of main bedrooms and 80.0% of living rooms did not meet the recommendations of the World Health Organization regarding temperature. These results indicated that the surveyed households did not use energy for heating their rooms, and an energy-saving effect due to the retrofits was difficult to expect. Accordingly, retrofit building or energy policies addressing fuel poverty are shown to be ineffective in the context of energy saving and thermal comfort in Korea. This article highlights issues that need to be analyzed to evaluate how effective the welfare program is. The results of this study alert policymaker to the need to improve the welfare policy; the methods proposed in this article will help them in their decisions.

Highlights

Fuel poverty was initially identified as a serious social problem for elderly people in the UK in the 1970s, when household income levels were low, fuel prices were high because of the oil crisis, and housing conditions were inadequate for certain population segments [1,2]
Even though the surveyed households were supported by the retrofitting program for energy efficiency, the room temperatures did not satisfy the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations for an adequate standard of warmth (i.e., 21 ◦C in the main living room and 18 ◦C in other occupied rooms)
Residents of low-income households have been shown to live in inadequate thermal environments in comparison to the general population

Summary

Introduction

Fuel poverty was initially identified as a serious social problem for elderly people in the UK in the 1970s, when household income levels were low, fuel prices were high because of the oil crisis, and housing conditions were inadequate for certain population segments [1,2]. Fuel poverty describes a household wherein fuel expenditure on energy services, warmth, exceeds 10% of the total income [5]. This designation of 10% was based on the 1988 Family Expenditure Survey for UK households. The bottom 30% of low-income households spent a mean of 10% on fuel [6] According to this definition of fuel poverty, a household may have a sufficient energy supply, but not for adequate warmth. This description of fuel poverty is suitable in developed countries, where energy supply problems have mostly been solved at the local level and where the climate is cold. More than 124 million people within the European Union are considered to live in circumstances of fuel poverty [7]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion