IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/enreec/v87y2024i12d10.1007_s10640-024-00918-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap: Policy Assessment

Author

Listed:
  • Elisenda Jové-Llopis

    (Universitat de Barcelona)

  • Elisa Trujillo-Baute

    (University of Lleida)

Abstract

Climate change and the ongoing energy transition can increase energy poverty rates. To date, the main tool employed to alleviate energy poverty has involved income transfers to vulnerable households. However, measures that seek to improve a home’s energy efficiency have recently gained increasing relevance. In this study we assess the effectiveness of these two types of policy, assuming universal coverage and optimal behaviour. Results points that income transfers and energy efficiency measures have the potential to decrease the proportion of households in energy poverty; however, the magnitude of their respective effects differs greatly. The average impact of energy efficiency measures provides for a greater reduction in energy poverty rates than income transfer policies. Although the greatest reduction in energy poverty is obtained by combining both measures, this combination of tools leads to overlapping effects with income transfers making only a marginal contribution once total retrofit have been implemented.

Suggested Citation

  • Elisenda Jové-Llopis & Elisa Trujillo-Baute, 2024. "Escaping the Energy Poverty Trap: Policy Assessment," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(12), pages 3335-3355, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:87:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1007_s10640-024-00918-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10640-024-00918-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10640-024-00918-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10640-024-00918-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sorrell, Steve & Dimitropoulos, John, 2008. "The rebound effect: Microeconomic definitions, limitations and extensions," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(3), pages 636-649, April.
    2. Legendre, Bérangère & Ricci, Olivia, 2015. "Measuring fuel poverty in France: Which households are the most fuel vulnerable?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 620-628.
    3. Bagnoli, Lisa & Bertoméu-Sánchez, Salvador, 2022. "How effective has the electricity social rate been in reducing energy poverty in Spain?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    4. García Alvarez, Guillermo & Tol, Richard S.J., 2021. "The impact of the Bono Social de Electricidad on energy poverty in Spain," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    5. Milne, Geoffrey & Boardman, Brenda, 2000. "Making cold homes warmer: the effect of energy efficiency improvements in low-income homes A report to the Energy Action Grants Agency Charitable Trust," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 411-424, June.
    6. Jaroslav Košičan & Miguel Ángel Pardo Picazo & Silvia Vilčeková & Danica Košičanová, 2021. "Life Cycle Assessment and Economic Energy Efficiency of a Solar Thermal Installation in a Family House," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    7. Yuru Guan & Jin Yan & Yuli Shan & Yannan Zhou & Ye Hang & Ruoqi Li & Yu Liu & Binyuan Liu & Qingyun Nie & Benedikt Bruckner & Kuishuang Feng & Klaus Hubacek, 2023. "Burden of the global energy price crisis on households," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(3), pages 304-316, March.
    8. Zhao, Jun & Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng & Shahbaz, Muhammad, 2022. "How renewable energy alleviate energy poverty? A global analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 299-311.
    9. Romero, José Carlos & Linares, Pedro & López, Xiral, 2018. "The policy implications of energy poverty indicators," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 98-108.
    10. Audrey Dobbins & Francesco Fuso Nerini & Paul Deane & Steve Pye, 2019. "Strengthening the EU response to energy poverty," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 2-5, January.
    11. Dong, Kangyin & Ren, Xiaohang & Zhao, Jun, 2021. "How does low-carbon energy transition alleviate energy poverty in China? A nonparametric panel causality analysis," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    12. Shonali Pachauri & Miguel Poblete-Cazenave & Arda Aktas & Matthew J. Gidden, 2021. "Access to clean cooking services in energy and emission scenarios after COVID-19," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1067-1076, November.
    13. Berkhout, Peter H. G. & Muskens, Jos C. & W. Velthuijsen, Jan, 2000. "Defining the rebound effect," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(6-7), pages 425-432, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bienvenido-Huertas, David & Sánchez-García, Daniel & Rubio-Bellido, Carlos & Marín-García, David, 2024. "Holistic analysis to reduce energy poverty in social dwellings in southern Spain considering envelope, systems, operational pattern, and income levels," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    2. Zhao, Jun & Dong, Kangyin & Dong, Xiucheng, 2024. "How does energy poverty eradication affect global carbon neutrality?," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Alonso-Epelde, E. & García-Muros, X. & González-Eguino, M., 2023. "Transport poverty indicators: A new framework based on the household budget survey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    4. Du, Qiang & Han, Xiao & Li, Yi & Li, Zhe & Xia, Bo & Guo, Xiqian, 2021. "The energy rebound effect of residential buildings: Evidence from urban and rural areas in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    5. Antunes, Micaela & Teotónio, Carla & Quintal, Carlota & Martins, Rita, 2023. "Energy affordability across and within 26 European countries: Insights into the prevalence and depth of problems using microeconomic data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(PA).
    6. Núñez-Sánchez, Ramón & Otoya-Chavarría, Marco & Soberón, Alexandra, 2024. "Price and budget elasticities under utility poverty policies in Spain," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Charlier, Dorothée & Legendre, Bérangère, 2021. "Fuel poverty in industrialized countries: Definition, measures and policy implications a review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C).
    8. Zhang, Pengfeng & Gu, Haiying, 2023. "Potential policy coordination: Can energy intensity targets affect energy poverty?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    9. Gu, Jiafeng, 2023. "Energy poverty and government subsidies in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C).
    10. Cadaval, María & Regueiro-Ferreira, Rosa Ma & Calvo, Santiago, 2022. "The role of the public sector in the mitigation of fuel poverty in Spain (2008–2019): Modeling the contribution of the BonoSocial deElectricidad," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    11. Wang, Jiayu & Yu, Shuao & Liu, Tiansen, 2021. "A theoretical analysis of the direct rebound effect caused by energy efficiency improvement of private consumers," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 171-181.
    12. Kearns, Ade & Whitley, Elise & Curl, Angela, 2019. "Occupant behaviour as a fourth driver of fuel poverty (aka warmth & energy deprivation)," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1143-1155.
    13. Murray, Cameron K, 2011. "Income dependent direct and indirect rebound effects from ’green’ consumption choices in Australia," MPRA Paper 34973, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Song, Yan & Gao, Jian & Zhang, Ming, 2023. "Study on the impact of energy poverty on income inequality at different stages of economic development: Evidence from 77 countries around the world," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    15. Croon, T.M. & Hoekstra, J.S.C.M. & Elsinga, M.G. & Dalla Longa, F. & Mulder, P., 2023. "Beyond headcount statistics: Exploring the utility of energy poverty gap indices in policy design," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    16. Syed Hasan & Odmaa Narantungalag, & Martin Berka, 2022. "The intended and unintended consequences of large electricity subsidies: evidence from Mongolia," Discussion Papers 2202, School of Economics and Finance, Massey University, New Zealand.
    17. Roberto Barrella & José Carlos Romero & Lucía Mariño, 2022. "Proposing a Novel Minimum Income Standard Approach to Energy Poverty Assessment: A European Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-21, November.
    18. Karen Turner, 2013. ""Rebound" Effects from Increased Energy Efficiency: A Time to Pause and Reflect," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 4).
    19. Ye, Yuxiang & Koch, Steven F., 2021. "Measuring energy poverty in South Africa based on household required energy consumption," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    20. González, Rosa Marina & Marrero, Gustavo A. & Rodríguez-López, Jesús & Marrero, Ángel S., 2019. "Analyzing CO2 emissions from passenger cars in Europe: A dynamic panel data approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1271-1281.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Energy poverty; Vulnerable households; Energy expenditure; Energy efficiency; Policy evaluation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H31 - Public Economics - - Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents - - - Household
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:enreec:v:87:y:2024:i:12:d:10.1007_s10640-024-00918-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.