Unveiling hidden energy poverty using the energy equity gap

Abstract

Income-based energy poverty metrics ignore people’s behavior patterns, particularly reducing energy consumption to limit financial stress. We investigate energy-limiting behavior in low-income households using a residential electricity consumption dataset. We first determine the outdoor temperature at which households start using cooling systems, the inflection temperature. Our relative energy poverty metric, the energy equity gap, is defined as the difference in the inflection temperatures between low and high-income groups. In our study region, we estimate the energy equity gap to be between 4.7–7.5 °F (2.6–4.2 °C). Within a sample of 4577 households, we found 86 energy-poor and 214 energy-insecure households. In contrast, the income-based energy poverty metric, energy burden (10% threshold), identified 141 households as energy-insecure. Only three households overlap between our energy equity gap and the income-based measure. Thus, the energy equity gap reveals a hidden but complementary aspect of energy poverty and insecurity.

Iot application for energy poverty detection based on thermal comfort monitoring

“…One of the main challenges is detecting Hidden EP (HEP) cases. This identification can be done through massive household monitoring [ 20 ], so the low cost of the system is an essential requirement. Several initiatives integrated IoT and Building Information Modeling (BIM) using low-cost systems, carried out the following up of parameters such as temperature, humidity, and air quality [ 21 ].…”

The persistence of household energy insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…For example, although people may be able to meet their energy-related financial obligations (i.e. pay monthly bills to avoid service termination), they may limit their energy consumption in the process [46], which could lead individuals and families to live in uncomfortable and potentially dangerous temperatures.…”

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of households and energy poverty in Serbia

“…For example, Lithuania and Portugal reported a high portion of people unable to keep their homes adequately warm but a low share of persons who had arrears on utility bills. As discussed in a study (Cong et al, 2022), that could indicate the underconsumption of households who express energy-limiting behaviour in that manner, which enables them to satisfy some more critical basic needs. On the other hand, households could be engaged in overconsumption of energy services because of the higher energy needs and poor energy performance of their households (Energy Poverty Advisory Hub, 2022).…”