Earth Notes: General Bibliography (sovacool2023poverty)

• [sovacool2023poverty] Benjamin K Sovacool and Paul Upham and Mari Martiskainen and Kirsten E H Jenkins and Gerardo A Torres Contreras et al. Policy prescriptions to address energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom (accessed 2023-02-07), 2023, Nature Energy, ISSN 2058-7546, doi:10.1038/s41560-023-01196-w (article) (BibTeX).
  abstract

  Tens of millions of households across Europe struggle to afford adequate electricity and heating services and reliable transportation, while recent high fuel prices could lead to an increase in excess winter deaths. Tackling energy and transport poverty is thus of paramount policy importance. Here we document the drivers and lived experiences of energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom, based on public focus groups and expert interviews. We find a set of policies that resonate with both expert planners and members of the public, implying they have a level of political and social acceptability that other measures may be lacking, notably: mandatory landlord energy efficiency upgrades, increasing the extent of financial assistance to households, cheaper (or even free) bus and train fares and restarting and expanding bus services. We buttress these findings with further suggestions for energy and transport system redesign that better meets emerging principles of energy and social justice.
  note

  [Transport and fuel poverty: "double energy vulnerability". Quote: "Electric heating, for example, could increase energy poverty vulnerabilities among low-income households. Heat pump adoption and energy efficiency retrofits tend to benefit those that can own their own homes but benefit less so those who rent their homes or live in temporary accommodation, such as students. Residential solar photovoltaics can result in homes with lower incomes subsidizing feed-in-tariffs for wealthier households, and problems such as inverters failing or panels breaking can become a financial burden for lower-income adopters," and "The United Kingdom is consequently a paradigmatic example of the twin challenges of decarbonizing energy and transport systems and meeting carbon targets but also ensuring the viability and profitability of energy firms."]