Future Design Approaches for Energy Poverty: Users Profiling and Services for No-Vulnerable Condition

Abstract

Analyzing data from the Energy Poverty Observatory in Europe, it emerges that more than 50 million households in the EU live in energy poverty (people that cannot heat their homes during winter; cannot make their homes comfortable during the summer; pay their energy bills late). Research studies realized in the last 20 years highlight that making energy demand efficient and effective is the more significant and socially important the more it is able to involve users who are unable to sustain energy demand. The evolution of the research sees a narrowing of the field of investigation by focusing on the user dimension of energy poverty, stressing the role of citizens not only as consumer but also as producers of solutions to tackle energy poverty, real energy communities of agents. The paper aims to provide a systematic literature review highlighting the major findings of the topic, investigating the relationship between spatial and social issues, and looking at the state of energy poverty by addressing the profiling of users and consequently of services useful to overcome their current vulnerable condition. The paper is structured in two core sections. The first one gives the results of a systematic literature review on the energy/fuel poverty topic, the second one deepens the role of communities and individuals need, crucial in defining new design approaches for supportive solutions to tackle energy poverty.

What has driven the growth of Brazil´s residential electricity consumption during the last 19 years? An index decomposition analysis

“…Furthermore, and consistent with the study of Uhr, Chagas and Uhr 2019, family income was positively related to consumption, while the tariff presented a negative impact on the electricity consumption. This latest study also found that the raise in tariff affects households with low electricity consumption leading to a great restriction in consumption, situation that is in line with the concept of energy poverty (BOERI et al, 2020). Abrahão and Souza ([2021]) also raised public policies and programs implemented from the year of 2000 verifying diversified regional responses in the residential electricity consumption.…”

“…Household income and regionality were identified as relevant aspects of influence over consumption, recommending that there should be a review of these aspects in energy policy. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that electricity consumption indices should be different for Brazilian regions, as well as for population age groups, since culture, household income and lifestyle are variables that impact the patterns of electricity consumption differently (ABRAHÃO; SOUZA, [2021];BOERI et al, 2020;ESTIRI;ZAGHENI, 2019;LIDDLE, 2014;TSO;GUAN, 2014;; LINS, 2010;; O'NEIL;CHEN, 2002).…”

Developing a Business Case for a Renewable Energy Community in a Public Housing Settlement in Greece—The Case of a Student Housing and Its Challenges, Prospects and Barriers

“…Putting RE technologies in good use in the context of Energy Communities, people have the chance to observe, appreciate and hopefully adopt good practices and behavior. Last but not least, RECs can have a very important role in the alleviation of energy poverty [36]. Either as a vulnerable individual/group or as a pro-active energy user, REC members have the opportunity to produce, store, use and generally manage energy in a way that its distribution becomes more accessible and socially just.…”

“…In an attempt to face energy poverty, following the 2008 turmoil, and to meet EU's energy efficiency targets, Greece's Ministry of Environment and Energy, on January 2018, presented L.4513/2018, on energy communities (EC) [36]. The Ministry's proposed law, was voted by a majority decision and its main purpose was to establish the legal foundation for a civil cooperative on the energy sector, especially regarding local production and consumption of energy [37,38].…”

Bibliometric Literature Analysis of a Multi-Dimensional Sustainable Development Issue: Energy Poverty

“…There are some remarkable studies reviewing the energy poverty literature [3,4,13,20,[31][32][33][34], but none of them performed a scientometric analysis to reveal networks among publications in terms of global and local citation counts, citing and cited references, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, co-authorship, and co-occurrence. Moreover, the network analysis in this study is based on a larger and more comprehensive dataset covering all information on energy poverty studies, stored in the Web of Science.…”