Energy Poverty and Personal Health in the EU

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of energy poverty on health in the EU-27 countries for the period from 2003–2020 using Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag models and generalized ridge regressions. Arrears on utility bills exerts positive long-run effects on capacity to keep the home adequately warm, current health expenditures, and self-perceived health as bad or very bad, but a negative long-run influence on energy import dependency. In the long-term, the population being unable to keep their home adequately warm positively affects self-perceived health as bad and very bad and negatively influences number of cooling days. Current health expenditure has a long-run influence on self-perceived health as bad and very bad and the number of heating days. Positive short-run impacts were observed for energy import dependency, arrears on utility bills, and number of heating days on current health expenditure and the population unable to keep their home adequately warm. People at risk of poverty or social exclusion in different zones had a significant impact on energy poverty indicators. A separate analysis is made for those EU states with the highest energy import dependency and the implications of the results are discussed.

Clean Household Energy Consumption and Residents’ Well-Being: Empirical Analysis and Mechanism Test

“…Moreover, energy poverty has a negative impact on subjective well-being, which is mainly manifested by affecting health [ 11 ], interfering with social equity [ 12 ], and reducing food expenditure [ 13 ]. Evidence from Europe suggests that energy scarcity will lead to consumer vulnerability [ 14 ]. The EU and its member states have made significant progress in developing a strong policy-making framework to alleviate energy poverty [ 15 ], and different regions should take different measures to address energy poverty based on local realities [ 16 ].…”

Exploring Energy Poverty among Off-Grid Households in the Upper Blinkwater Community, South Africa

“…This could lead to a decrease in their standard of living, as they may have to cut back on discretionary spending, reduce food consumption, and compromise on healthcare expenses. This may sometimes force households to make difficult choices, such as forgoing necessary home improvements or even experiencing housing instability [16].…”

“…The questionnaire contained questions about the types of energy currently used by the respondents, along with their respective uses, prices, transportation costs, and quantity, that is, how often the energy source is obtained per month. In terms of energy uses, according to [16], energy plays a crucial role in everyday activities such as cooking, lighting, heating, cooling, and refrigeration, linking energy access to health and economic productivity. They assert that suscep-tibility to any of these factors not only compromises their well-being but also has cascading effects on their economic productivity.…”

“…The findings in this section provide insight into the various types or sources of energy used within the Upper Blinkwater community, as well as the specific purposes for which these energy sources are utilized, such as cooking, heating, lighting, cooling, and refrigeration. In view of [4,16], it is essential to note that Upper Blinkwater operates off-grid, meaning it lacks access to centralized electricity. Consequently, activities such as cooling and refrigeration systems were not prevalent, while cooking, lighting, and heating remained essential energy uses.…”

“…Moreover, the lack of access to electricity restricts the use of productive resources, stifles the growth of small businesses, and impedes the adoption of technologies that could enhance agricultural productivity and food security, further perpetuating cycles of poverty [1,15]. Energy poverty also causes low-income households to spend a higher percentage of their household income on energy than middle-income households [16].…”