Energy poverty refers to the situation where individuals, elderly people, households or communities lack access to adequate, affordable, and reliable energy services to meet their basic needs. The programme examines ways and means with the objective of lowering eradicating or even energy poverty altogether.
Energy poverty refers to the situation where individuals, elderly people, households or communities lack access to adequate, affordable, and reliable energy services to meet their basic needs, such as heating, cooling, lighting, and cooking. It is often driven by a combination of factors, including low-income, high-energy costs, and inefficient or outdated energy infrastructure.
The situation varies in the countries of the region of SE Europe, depending on their energy markets, economic conditions, and social policies. While each of the SEE countries faces unique challenges, there are common threads including rising energy prices, energy inefficiency, and limited social protection programs to fully address “Energy Poverty”.
The key aspects of Energy Poverty in the SE Europe region are characterized, as follows:
1. Lack of Access to Modern Energy Sources: Many people, particularly in developing regions of SE Europe, rely on traditional fuels, like wood, charcoal, or animal dung for cooking and heating, which are inefficient and contribute to health problems and to high carbon emissions.
2. High Energy Costs: Many households may have access to energy but are unable to afford it. This is particularly common in regions where energy prices are high relative to household incomes, leading to an inability to meet energy needs without sacrificing other essential expenses.
3. Energy Inefficiency: Energy-inefficient homes or appliances can lead to high energy consumption, resulting in disproportionate energy bills for poorer households. This is common in older buildings with poor insulation or old, and low-efficiency, heating systems.
4. Geographical Disparities: Rural areas often suffer from a lack of infrastructure that delivers reliable electricity, leaving populations in energy poverty. Urban areas may also face energy poverty due to high costs or unreliable services.
5. Health and Environmental Impacts: Energy poverty is linked to health issues, such as respiratory diseases from indoor air pollution caused by burning solid fuels. It can also force households to live in under-heated or overheated homes, affecting physical health.
The Institute has a number of initiatives underway in order to address the serious energy poverty challenges facing the region. These include focused educational courses in selected countries aimed at engineers, architects and personnel of construction companies who will be trained in the design and application of energy efficiency techniques. By improving the energy efficiency of existing and new buildings alike, the target is to achieve a minimum degree of thermal comfort thus addressing a major issue of energy poverty.
Other initiatives comprise the study and application of low cost building and retrofitting techniques aimed at improving the thermal comfort levels of existing buildings in impoverished areas in a number of countries in the region.