Living with Energy Poverty: Perspectives from the Global North and South expands our collective understanding of energy poverty and deepens our recognition of the phenomenon by engaging with the lived experiences of energy-poor households across different contexts.
Understanding the lived experience of energy poverty is an essential component in the design of any effort to alleviate what is fundamentally a deep-rooted, multi-faceted, wickedly complex problem. This requires a nuanced understanding of the causal factors and the research methods that can respond to the flexible spatial and temporal nature of the condition, as well as its wellbeing and justice implications. Drawing together the expertise and connectedness of authors from the Global South and North, this book presents novel approaches to understanding the often hidden forms of domestic energy deprivation. Case studies from 20 countries provide critical perspectives on this phenomenon while analysing the policy practices, government strategy, and sustainability implications of divergent manifestations. The book takes a multidimensional perspective, challenging the bias towards energy production and service provision, which often do not align with the aspirations and realities of energy households across global contexts, thus facilitating a useful dialogue on the nature of energy poverty.
The book is a timely source for policymakers, practitioners, and scholars seeking fresh, diverse insights into the everyday reality of energy poverty and wanting to better understand the challenges a people-centred, just energy transition can present.
Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
Chapter 22 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons [Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND)] 4.0 license.
INTRODUCTION 1. The Global Face of Energy Poverty Paola Velasco-Herrejón, Breffní Lennon and Niall P. Dunphy PART I – METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES 2. Identifying Energy-Poor Households, Experiences from the Global North Niall P. Dunphy, Breffní Lennon, and Paola Velasco-Herrejón 3. How do We Measure Energy Poverty? The Limitations of Energy Expenditure as an Indicator María María Ibañez Martín, María Florencia Zabaloy, and Federico Dubois 4. Unveiling Hidden Energy Poverty in a Time of Crisis: A Methodological Approach for National Statistics Roberto Barrella and José Carlos Romero 5. Reflections from Quantitative Characterisations of Energy Poverty in Mexico: Methods, Energy Justice, and Geographic Differences Adolfo Mejía-Montero and Pável Soriano-Hernández 6. Understanding the Lived Experience of Summer Energy Poverty through Participatory Action Research Marta Gayoso Heredia, Daniel Torrego Gómez, Miguel Núñez Peiró, and Carmen Sánchez-Guevara Sánchez 7. What Energy Poverty Looks Like: Methodological Insights from a Study in the Republic of Georgia Nino Antadze PART II – LIVED EXPERIENCES 8. Not Equal Before the Energy System: Can Energy Justice Principles Lift Women in Rural West Africa Out of Energy Poverty? Laurent Jodoin and Carelle Mang-Benza 9. Connected Yet Suffering: The Lived Experiences of Czech Households through Energy Service Providers Bankruptcies Dominik David and Hedvika Koďousková 10. Insights on Energy Poverty from Street Vendors in Indonesia Dinita Setyawati 11. Understanding Energy Poverty in South Africa Nthabiseng Mohlakoana and Peta Wolpe 12. Resources and Skills of Low-Income Households to Tackle Energy Poverty in France Coralie Robert 13. Too Cool or Too Hot: Thermal Comfort in Low-Income Homes and Lived Experiences of Energy Poverty in India and Austria Tania Berger 14. Heating Deprivation in Southern Cone: Sensitivities and Resilience Shaping the Vulnerability Experience Paz Araya, Tamara Oyarzún, and Betina Cardoso 15. Female Voices of Energy Deprivation: The Lived Experience of Energy Vulnerable Women in North Macedonia and Austria Ana Stojilovska and Mariëlle Feenstra PART III PRACTICES, POLICIES AND SUSTAINABILITY 16. Transitioning Out of Vulnerability Using the Neighborhood Energy Center Model Alison Kenner, Andrew Rosenthal, Briana Leone, Morgan Sarao, James Adams, and Abby Tzinberg 17. Demand-side Flexibility to Address Household Energy Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Case of Burkina Faso and Madagascar Marine Cornelis, Edmond VII Mballa Elanga, and Luc Richaud 18. Assessing Energy Poverty and Potential Retrofit Scenarios in Residential Stock in Tirana, Albania Sokol Dervishi, Gliti Mazniku, Alessia Tafani, and Ina Dervishi 19. From Energy Poverty to Vulnerability: A Discourse Analysis of the European Union’s National Energy and Climate Plans Ahmed Noaman El-Sherbini and Ingmar Lippert 20. What of Recognition Justice? An Empirical Analysis of the Role of Recognition Justice in Social Housing Smart City Projects in the Global North Luca Lamonaca and Susana Batel 21. A Burning Desire: Trying to Achieve SDG 7 and Improving Access to Cleaner Cooking Fuels in Rural Ghana Dickson Boateng, Julian Bloomer, and John Morrissey CONCLUSION 22. Towards a Better Understanding of Energy Poverty Niall P. Dunphy, Breffní Lennon, and Paola Velasco-Herrejón Index
Paola Velasco-Herrejón is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions (MSCA) Research Fellow in the Department of Technology Systems, University of Oslo, Norway. Her research adopts an interdisciplinary perspective to examine socio-technical aspects of the global energy transition and decarbonisation, focusing on well-being, energy poverty, participation, power, and social justice. She was a co-investigator of the EnergyMeasures H2020 project, which aims to better understand the lived experience of energy poverty and support energy-poor households across seven European countries. Breffní Lennon is a Research Fellow at the Cleaner Production Promotion Unit, Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork, Ireland. He is a geographer researching the energy geographies of climate change and the energy transition. His research focuses on emerging cultural ecologies of place, human-environment dimensions of energy, and the intersectional experiences of citizens in relation to environmental and energy justice. He is a co-Principal Investigator of the EnergyMeasures H2020 project and a co-investigator on the ENCLUDE H2020 project. Niall P. Dunphy is a Senior Research Fellow in the School of Engineering and Architecture and the Environmental Research Institute at University College Cork, Ireland. Niall has over 20 years’ experience in multidisciplinary research; he leads the Cleaner Production Promotion Unit, a research group working at the intersection of science and engineering with the social sciences and humanities. His scholarship has a focus on the social dimensions of energy, with the unifying thread being the place of the energy citizen. Niall is the project Coordinator of EnergyMeasures (H2020 2020–2024), which is working to provide tailored advice and bespoke small measures to energy-vulnerable households across seven European countries.
