Energy-poor Households Research Articles

Energy Poverty and Women’s Economic Well-Being in Global South: Evidence from Burkina Faso

Although the relationship between household access to energy and economic well-being has received increasing attention in recent years, studies of this link have generally focused on unidimensional measures of fuel poverty. What is the link between multidimensional energy poverty and women’s economic well-being? Using data from the Continuous Multisectoral Survey on Household Living Conditions, this paper focuses on quantifying energy poverty and its effect on the economic well-being of households, particularly women, in Burkina Faso within a multidimensional framework. The results indicate that 84% of households are in a situation of multidimensional energy poverty. These energy-poor households are deprived, on average in 67.01% of the indicators. The results of the econometric estimations show that an increase in multidimensional energy deprivation is associated with a decrease in women’s economic well-being. Given that energy poverty reduces women’s economic well-being, they should be given priority in the implementation of energy policies.

Energy deprivation to financial prosperity: Unveiling multidimensional energy Poverty's influence

The purpose of this research is to assess how energy poverty affects an individual's social wellbeing and financial constraints. The present research examines the effects of energy deprivation on a family's well-being, educational attainment, and economic advancement using survey data from PSLM (Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement). The investigation's empirical findings imply that a household's needs for energy are directly correlated with the fuel type they use and how little or expensively they rely on renewable energy. The consequent implications of energy dependence on family prosperity are significant. Energy-poor households have been shown to be more prone to experience respiratory illnesses, pay more for health care, drop out of school, and have less employment opportunities.

Comparative analysis of energy poverty definition and measurement in Portugal and Spain

This paper aims to critically analyse and compare the definition and measurement of energy poverty reflected in the national policy strategies in Portugal and Spain and propose recommendations for their enhancement. The analysis is supported by a systematic literature review of indicators in the Iberian context. Results highlight that both definitions can benefit from broadening the scope and increasing the representativeness of energy services and types of vulnerability. Measurement can be enhanced using available data and indicators for increasing comprehensiveness, reducing redundancy, and considering depth and persistence. Higher effectiveness in energy-poor households’ identification requires increased indicator intersectionality and alternative indicators.

Inflation and distributional impacts: Have mitigation policies been successful for vulnerable and energy poor households?

The aim of this paper is to assess the distributional impact of the 2021–23 price increase on Italian household expenditure and energy poverty. Using the microsimulation model developed by the Italian Parliamentary Budget Office, the analysis provides a comprehensive assessment of the uneven impact of inflation across the population and measures how mitigation policies have compensated for this impact. In particular, we focus on vulnerable households to examine whether energy poverty has been affected by the rise in energy prices and to what extent policies have succeeded in protecting these families. Our main findings show that in 2022, mitigation policies have stabilised the impact of inflation by compensating households for almost half of the effect of the price shock on their expenditure. Although not particularly well targeted at energy-poor households, the mitigation policies have protected households from a worsening of their energy vulnerability. However, the reduction of support measures adopted in 2023 is expected to increase the area of vulnerability, including households that are particularly sensitive to high energy costs. Finally, the behavioural response of households was also considered by estimating price elasticities of energy demand and measuring their impact on the simulated scenarios using a sensitivity approach.

Identifying Energy-Poor Households with Publicly Available Information: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned from the Athens Urban Area, Greece

Energy poverty (EP) has emerged as a significant and multifaceted social challenge, both in Europe and globally, in recent years. Given the constraints of limited public resources, it is imperative that policies addressing EP focus on the most socially vulnerable households. To this end, effective policies necessitate a thorough understanding of the key characteristics defining households affected by this phenomenon. This research aims to contribute to the identification of energy-poor households by examining both established and novel EP indicators, utilizing the Athens urban area as a case study. The study employs the official EP indicator utilized in Greece, alongside three newly developed indicators. These indicators constitute essential components in the formulation of multivariate binary logistic regression models. The models incorporate predictors derived from existing government databases, encompassing household and building characteristics. From a policy perspective, this research introduces novel approaches for addressing EP, as the models and two of the newly introduced indicators demonstrate promising results in identifying energy-poor households. Importantly, this identification can be achieved without the need for primary questionnaire surveys or the compilation of complex information.

Multidimensional energy poverty: A study of its measurement, decomposition, and determinants in Indonesia

This study estimated Indonesian households' Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index (MEPI) using Alkire-Foster's multidimensional poverty concept to capture the incidence, intensity, decomposition, and changes over time. The study used monetary and non-monetary variables to identify the availability, accessibility, affordability, consumption, and deprivation of modern energy services; and compared existing affordability indicators. Redundancy, robustness, and sensitivity tests were conducted with three weighting schemes and deprivation cut-offs. The study decomposed and determined household-head (HH) socio-economic, demographic, and geographic factors for MEP using the Logit, Probit, Tobit, and Heckman Selection models. The results show that the low-income and high cost (LIHC) was the most robust affordability indicator, followed by the ten percent rule (TPR). The complement-frequency weighting scheme gave the smallest and most robust MEPI compared to equal and principal component analysis (PCA) weighting. Three alternative deprivation cut-offs can show households as “vulnerable,” “moderately,” or “severely” energy poor. The MEP incidence decreased, but its intensity remained high and increased. Energy-poor households were averagely deprived of 55–60 % of all weighted indicators. The lack of modern cooking services was the primary cause. MEPI differed by geographical location and HH gender, education, business field, and employment status. Policies that boost education levels, raise household income, and increase the availability, accessibility, and affordability of modern cooking technology in the rural, hinterland, or non-coastal forested locations in the eastern islands of Indonesia may minimize the number of households experiencing MEP.

Holistic analysis to reduce energy poverty in social dwellings in southern Spain considering envelope, systems, operational pattern, and income levels

Energy renovations carried out in energy poor households should consider a holistic view in the short-, mid- and long-term, especially in warm areas such as Andalusia, in the south of Spain. This study addresses the existing knowledge gap on technological and economic interactions in the energy poverty of family units in warm areas of Spain. To do this, the study performs a parametric analysis. In this parametric analysis, a dataset of 36,230,400 instances was developed considering envelope, HVAC systems, an operational pattern (based on static and adaptive thermal comfort models), and family units’ income levels. Likewise, the energy poverty ratio was compared based on the high share of energy expenditure in income (2 M). The results showed that improving envelope and establishing adaptive operational patterns did not effectively reduce energy poverty cases in low-income families in the south of Spain. However, these strategies were appropriate in family units with greater incomes to remove energy poverty cases, regardless of the low reduction in energy consumption by improving the envelope. This study is a starting point to combine social aids, energy improvements and rational energy use through adaptive operational patterns.

Are they Twins or Only Friends? The Redundancy and Complementarity of Energy Poverty Indicators in Italy

A large body of literature has developed numerous unidimensional and multidimensional indicators to identify energy-poor households, also with the aim of targeting public policies. They all have pros and cons and may identify different populations. How do they relate to each other? How should they be used in a country such as Italy where energy poverty has not yet been officially defined? We frame these research questions in a context of general social vulnerability in which several dimensions of poverty intersect. Using SILC data (EU and IT modules) for the period 2004–2015 we compare four widely used unidimensional indicators and provide evidence—for the Italian case—that complementarity among the indicators prevails since the complexity of energy poverty requires a combination of metrics to capture various vulnerabilities. Our results confirm the set of relevant factors affecting the probability of being energy poor which are indicated in the related economics literature, regardless of which indicator is used. They may help tailor policies to tackle the phenomenon. Based on these findings, we strongly support the idea of using a dashboard of different metrics to measure energy poverty to design effective policies.

Energy poverty prediction and effective targeting for just transitions with machine learning

The prevalence of energy poverty as a major challenge in numerous countries, the escalating energy crisis and the need to build just supporting mechanisms within the net zero energy transition add impetus to improving our ability to accurately predict energy vulnerable households. In Europe, this is hindered by limited recognition of the fact that energy vulnerable households are not necessarily income poor (and vice versa). Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning techniques in particular, may be applied to improve the targeting mechanism of energy poverty schemes, enabling accurate prediction of energy vulnerable households via objective, publicly available data. However, such applications are still limited, especially across a large number of countries. In response to the above, we develop an innovative machine learning framework for accurate prediction and fair targeting of energy poor households across all the current members of the European Union, and the United Kingdom. While we explore various machine learning algorithms, most of our analysis is performed using a Random Forest classifier. Our approach to explore energy poverty beyond income reveals household-level and country-level predictors of energy poverty, such as dwelling condition, energy efficiency, social protection payments and gas supplier switching rates. We also demonstrate how machine learning algorithms offer straightforward visualization of the mechanism that determines the energy poor classification, improving the transparency of alleviation schemes and assisting policy-makers in setting effective thresholds for assistance allocation. Finally, we evaluate the potential fairness of alleviation schemes and demonstrate that basing their targeting exclusively on income-relevant or social welfare-relevant criteria would be ineffective and result in significant numbers of energy poor households being excluded from energy assistance.

Private benefits from ambient air pollution reduction policies: Evidence from the household heating stove replacement program in Chile

We estimate the key private benefits from a program to improve ambient air quality during winter in central Chile by replacing inefficient wood-fired home heating stoves with more efficient pellet stoves. We are interested in the private benefits to households, because they represent additional value of the program and likely drive adoption. Combining electronic stove surface temperature and air pollution monitoring with household surveys, we estimate the effects of adoption on household fuel expenditures, indoor temperatures and indoor air pollution concentrations (PM2.5) when the stoves are in use. We also explore heterogeneous effects of the program by income group and energy poverty status. Our results suggest that, after controlling for observable characteristics of individuals and dwellings, users of pellet stoves on average enjoy 14 % lower indoor PM2.5 concentrations during hours in which stoves are in use compared with those who use traditional stoves during the same periods of time. Lower-income and energy-poor households receive much greater than average improvements in indoor air pollution than those with higher-incomes, driving the overall estimate and indicating that the program is progressive in this dimension. The improved heating stove has significantly higher operating costs, however, and we find that these costs are most salient for low-income and energy-poor households.

Evaluating the relationship between energy poverty and child disability: A multilevel analysis based on low and middle-income countries

The existing literature extensively examines the impact of energy poverty on various developmental outcomes, yet there is a dearth of research investigating the empirical relationship between energy poverty and child disability. Therefore, this study aims to examine the association between household energy poverty and disabilities in children aged 2–4 years. The analysis utilizes data from the nationally representative Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys conducted between 2017 and 2019 in 15 developing countries, encompassing three countries from South Asia and twelve countries from Sub-Saharan Africa. To measure the severity of children's disabilities, functional domains, including hearing, seeing, walking, fine motor skills, learning, understanding, speaking, and playing, were considered. Energy poverty was assessed using a multidimensional weighted approach, which accounted for access to household energies such as electricity, clean cooking fuels, television, refrigerators, mobile phones, and more. Multilevel regression models were employed to evaluate the adjusted association between energy poverty and child disability. The findings of this study reveal that children residing in energy-poor households face a higher risk of experiencing disabilities compared to those in energy non-poor households. Furthermore, Sub-Saharan Africa exhibits a greater influence of energy poverty on the development of child disabilities compared to South Asia. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using Lewbel's two-stage least squares (2SLS) regression model to predict the standardized disability score derived from principal component analysis. The results consistently indicate that households with limited access to energy are significantly more vulnerable to severe disabilities among children aged 2–4 years. Therefore, to address this issue and enhance the well-being of children and families, governments and development partners in low- and middle-income countries should prioritize policies and programs targeting energy poverty, such as increasing access to modern energy sources, promoting energy efficiency, and implementing specialized social protection initiatives.

No heat, no eat: (Dis)entangling insecurities and their implications for health and well-being

This study explores the associations between energy poverty, food insecurity, and a set of outcomes—including the self-reported burden of chronic illness, physical disabilities, and mental health—among social-aid recipients across Israel. We highlight the socio-demographic characteristics and housing conditions of energy-poor households and analyze the association between energy poverty and health and well-being using multivariate regression models. Of 1390 aid-recipient respondents, more than 85% met the criteria for living in an energy-poor household, and almost all of them also struggled with food insecurity and were raised in poor households as children. In addition, the severity of energy poverty was positively and significantly associated with the occurrence of diabetes, hypertension, and mental illness, and, as compared with energy-secure households, severely energy-poor households were more prone to forgo acquiring prescription medications, medical aid, or required health treatments due to financial hardships. These findings highlight the nuanced negotiation over necessities that aid-supported households make; despite being at greater risk of being sick, energy-poor households are more likely to forgo buying medicines and seeking healthcare so as to pay the electricity bills. Hidden energy poverty, coupled with what might be hidden morbidity, may have significant implications for healthcare systems, and a climate-sensitive health policy at both the municipal and national levels is required to strengthen resilience among low-income households.

Multiple faces of poverty. Exploring housing-costs-induced energy poverty in Central and Eastern Europe

The series of crises, first pandemic, then energy, and finally war threaten the most vulnerable in all countries. This study attempts to unveil the faces of the energy poor to shape conscious policies concerning these households. We focus on the profile of energy-poor households in 11 CEE countries, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.We identify nine distinct profiles of energy poor households and key vulnerability characteristics. The first one is low income, which, especially for retirees, does not allow them to meet their energy needs. The second one is living in houses. The third one is the mismatch between housing size and household needs. The fourth is a large number of children in the household. Our source of micro-data is the EU Survey on Income and Living Conditions collected in 2020. We perform the analysis using the partitioning around medoids algorithm on the sample of 18,331 energy poor households, which represent about 22.6 % of all observations.We highlight several policy issues in this study. It is important to make the housing market more flexible to adjust accommodation to the size of households. Pension systems should account for population aging and improve the financial situation of single elderly persons. Finally, large families with dependent children should be supported more effectively.

Excluded despite their support - The perspectives of energy-poor households on their participation in the German energy transition narrative

EU policy documents pursue a win-win outcome for climate policies and the combatting of energy poverty. Yet current policies do not achieve the full participation of the energy-poor in regard to energy transitions. Structural factors like welfare policy, housing- and energy-market mechanisms, and tenancy prevent the energy poor from benefitting from energy transitions. Based on document analyses and in-depth interviews with 35 German households, we describe how the energy poor perceive the sustainability narrative associated with the German energy transition. Being part of this narrative creates a sense of belonging, while being deprived of the opportunity manifests yet another dimension of social exclusion. We portray three household types: those supporting climate action and energy transition with limited possibility for participation beyond energy saving; indifferent households with low energy consumption due to financial precarity; and extremely overburdened households with (mental) health issues. All groups express support for energy transitions yet remain excluded by its policies that fail to account for multidimensional vulnerability and that remain restricted to either energy-saving or one-time relief measures, both of which quickly reach their limits, especially during energy crises. Highlighting the exclusion of these groups requires specifying that distributional justice debates to include access to measures designed to enhance participation in this narrative. Such measures would enable the fair distribution of coping mechanisms to manage rising energy prices and often determine whether households can contribute to climate action while maintaining the basic comforts of life. On a policy level, only a radical shift towards inclusive, democratic policy design can help overcome the exclusion.

Energy vulnerability in Mediterranean countries: A latent class analysis approach

The need to protect vulnerable consumers is a priority for the European Commission but defining who is energy vulnerable remains difficult. Thus, in this paper, we provide an overview of energy poverty in 2019 for five Mediterranean countries (Greece, Spain, Italy, France and Portugal) using the EU-SILC database. We overcome a methodological difficulty inherent in pan-European research by developing the same tool, LCA (Latent Class Analysis) for characterizing energy poverty in all countries. Then we provide decision support in terms of energy poverty policy, without arbitrarily defining a binary tipping point. Indeed, we identify three groups with different needs: energy sufficient households, energy-poor households and more importantly, we highlight a third group which we refer to as energy vulnerable, who can easily fall below the radar of policy makers because they are not initially defined as precarious.

Achieving deep-energy retrofits for households in energy poverty

Climate change and energy poverty are two sustainability challenges that can be addressed through deep-energy retrofits for homes. This systematic review identifies which factors influence the achievement of energy retrofits for households vulnerable to energy poverty. It covers both energy-poor households and the landlords or building owners of energy-poor households. The results identify a range of influential factors across several themes: financial, policy and organizational, trust and communication, technical, attitudes and values, and health. Health and quality of life are particularly influential motivating factors among households vulnerable to energy poverty, as is the presence of trust and communication between stakeholders. Multiple financial considerations are also important, such as the availability of no-cost retrofit options and the prospect of lower energy and maintenance costs. Lastly, government requirements to retrofit and minimum energy standards are motivating, particularly in the social housing sector. These findings and the lack of focus on energy poverty within the energy retrofit literature and policies point to a need for further research on this topic, and for retrofit policies specifically targeted to households vulnerable to energy poverty. Policy relevance Energy retrofit policies targeting households vulnerable to energy poverty could be more effective if they: Improve access to low or no-cost retrofit options alongside tenant protection mechanisms Include requirements for resident consent and engagement Build capacity to collect, centralize and publicize information about building stocks to align retrofit projects with necessary upgrades Disseminate knowledge of retrofit programs through trusted communicators Increase stakeholders’ understanding of retrofit benefits Take a holistic approach by emphasizing the co-benefits of energy retrofits in energy-poor households Implement government requirements to pursue energy retrofits aligned with overarching government climate policies, particularly for publicly owned housing.

Who is vulnerable to energy poverty in China?

Energy poverty has been identified as a problem in China, but research to date does not discuss who experiences it, unlike in other countries. Here, we compared sociodemographic characteristics known to be linked to energy vulnerability in other nations between energy poor (EP) households and non-EP households, using the 2018 survey data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). We found that a range of sociodemographic characteristics associated with transport, education and employment, health, household structure, and social security, are disproportionately distributed among five provinces (Gansu, Liaoning, Henan, Shanghai, Guangdong) in our study. EP households are more likely to have low housing quality, low education, old people, poor mental/physical health, be mainly female, be rural-Hukou, be without pension, and lack clean cooking fuels. In addition, the logistic regression results further evidenced the increased likelihood of experiencing energy poverty given vulnerability related socio-demographic predictors in the full sample, in rural-urban areas, and in each single province. These results suggest that vulnerable groups should be considered specifically when formulating targeted policies for energy poverty alleviation to avoid exacerbating existing energy injustice or creating new ones.

Thermal, acoustic, and fire performance characterization of textile face mask waste for use as low-cost building insulation material

Environmental issues are becoming increasingly important, and researchers are developing new technologies and models to reduce environmental impact. The circular economy is a production and consumption model that involves sharing, borrowing, reusing, repairing, reconditioning and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. This study focuses on the concept of reuse and, specifically, how to reduce waste generated by pandemics through recycling and reusing facemasks made of polyamide fabric. Facemasks can be reused to refurbish buildings in low-income contexts. To assess the reutilization potential of recycled bulk polyamide fiber, thermal, acoustic, and fire performance properties were assessed experimentally. The results show that they are comparable to commercial insulation materials such as glass wool and mineral wool in terms of thermal conductivity, while also demonstrating good sound absorption performance at medium and high frequencies (greater thickness and density will increase the amount of insulation and sound absorption). The material's fire performance is similar to that of other synthetic insulation materials, such as EPS. However, the performance is worse than for common organic insulation materials, such as cellulose. Finally, a low-cost, self-portable insulation panel concept designed for indoor installation was tested for material performance. Considering these properties, this solution may represent a significant opportunity to enhance thermal and acoustic comfort in vulnerable energy-poor households, bringing clear environmental benefits and positive social implications.

Methodological Challenges in Energy Poverty Research

Energy poverty is an endemic phenomenon affecting millions of households around the world. An abundant literature, employing various single or combined methods, is dedicated to understanding its causes, symptoms, and the lived experiences of these households. This article explores the challenges raised when implementing qualitative research on energy poor households. We analyse a set of 33 research outputs - academic papers and reports - to identify methodological challenges raised by researchers and their possible resolves. By discussing the difficulties related to the operationalization of the concept of energy poverty, those linked to identifying and engaging energy poor households in research, or to the complex nature of their vulnerabilities, the study aims to develop a grounded theory articulated on the narrative of the findings and provide guidance for future qualitative work on energy poverty performed by researchers and stakeholders involved in alleviating it.

Energy poverty in the Netherlands at the national and local level: A multi-dimensional spatial analysis

The strong increase in energy prices since 2021 has led to a turning point in thinking about energy poverty in the Netherlands, where the concept of energy poverty was thus far neglected in national policy making. Against this background we present the first multifaceted spatial analysis of energy poverty in the Netherlands, which will serve as the analytical foundation to set up a national energy poverty monitor. In doing so, we make a novel contribution to the literature by estimating and systematically comparing a new set of energy poverty indicators for the Netherlands, taking into account the spatial dimension of the energy poverty problem by using georeferenced microdata at the household level, covering nearly 80 % of Dutch households. We measure three dimensions of the energy poverty problem: (i) the affordability of energy, (ii) the energetic quality of houses and (iii) households' ability to participate in the energy transition. Our analysis shows that at 2019 energy prices, approximately 7 % of Dutch households face a combination of high energy costs, inadequate insulation and low income. However, almost half of all Dutch households (48 %) cannot participate in the energy transition in the built environment on their own, because they live in a poorly or moderately insulated house that they are unable to upgrade because they are either tenants, or owners with insufficient financial wealth. About 75 % of energy-poor households live in a dwelling owned by a social housing association. These observations challenge the dominant policy perspective that greening of the housing stock mainly requires providing home-owners limited financial incentives in the form of subsidies. As regards the geography of energy poverty, we find that severe energy poverty is much more spatially concentrated than income poverty, and mainly occurs in peripheral regions of the Netherlands plus some densely populated urban districts. We argue that energy poverty is a symptom of slow diffusion of energy-saving technologies due to a combination of investment barriers, which should be addressed with a balanced mix of additional financial resources, price incentives and home insulation standards.