FPRN bulletin – 13th July 2023


13 July 2023

Welcome to our email bulletin.

The FPRN email bulletin is a semi-regular email highlighting a handpicked selection of recently published research and other knowledge outputs in the area of fuel/energy poverty from around the world. The aim is to share this emerging knowledge more widely and to help generate discussion across the network.

If you have any issues accessing the below articles, or you have articles, research or other information we could share, please contact newsletter@fuelpovertyresearch.net

Recent webinar: Smart homes & fuel poverty in Australia: improving outcomes or locking in vulnerabilities? Click here for the video.

A Transition to Sustainable Housing - Progress and Prospects for a Low Carbon Housing Future (SpringerLink)
Trivess Moore; Andréanne Doyon (2023)
 Other  Open Access 

This book explores the environmental, social, and financial challenges of housing provision, and the urgent need for a sustainable housing transition. Going beyond an environmental focus, the book explores a range of housing-related challenges including social justice and equity issues.

A novel strategy to guarantee a minimum indoor temperature in social housing buildings (ScienceDirect)
Pablo Hernandez-Cruz; Irati Uriarte; Juan María Hidalgo-Betanzos; Íñigo Antepara; Iván Flores-Abascal (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

The authors present a simple procedure to manage heating energy consumption in order to guarantee a minimum indoor temperature in social housing dwellings. Analysis of social housing in Spain demonstrate that this procedure improved the indoor thermal conditions by 81%, helping to alleviate energy poverty.

Warm Homes Fund Programme Evaluation Spatial Mapping Report (pdf)
Caitlin Robinson (2023)
 Report  Open Access 

This report presents spatial mapping of the results of the Warm Homes Fund evaluation. The analysis contributes to the evaluation’s aim of determining the extent to which the support has reached the households most in need, and any regional differences, specifically between England,
Scotland, and Wales.

Women, equality, and energy access: Emerging lessons for last-mile rural electrification in Brazil (ScienceDirect)
A. Leduchowicz-Municio; B. Domenech; L. Ferrer-Martí; M.E.M. Udaeta; A.L.V. Gimenes (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper presents field research which has been carried out in 19 remote traditional communities in the semi-arid region of Bahia (Brazil), where a last-mile rural electrification program was launched a decade ago. The results highlighted that, to benefit both genders equally, there is a need for higher energy capacities, capable of running household electrical appliances and electrifying community services where women play a fundamental role.

How do interventions for energy poverty and health work? (ScienceDirect)
Lucie Middlemiss; Merel Stevens; Pepa Ambrosio-Albalá; Victoria Pellicer-Sifres; Amy van Grieken (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper presents a review of the existing evidence on interventions for and health focusing on how interventions work to produce health outcomes. The analysis reveals gaps between intervention design and participant response and forwards a number of implications for policy.

Disconnected, yet in the spotlight: Emergency research on extreme energy poverty in the Cañada Real informal settlement, Spain (ScienceDirect)
Ulpiano Ruiz-Rivas; Sergio Tirado-Herrero; Raúl Castaño-Rosa; Jorge Martínez-Crespo (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper documents the change in living conditions experienced by some residents in Cañada Real (Spain) who, in 2020, were left without access to power and remained in this situation for several years. The analysis presents a case of ‘extreme energy poverty’ and implications of how to address the situation are explored.

Evaluating the impact of energy efficiency strategies on households’ energy affordability: A Spanish case study (ScienceDirect)
Roberto Barrella; José Ignacio Linares; José Carlos Romero; Eva Arenas (2023)
 Academic Paper  Open Access 

This paper analyses the effect of various retrofitting strategies in Spanish vulnerable households and looks at the impact on energy poverty in winter and summer. The research finds that different retrofit approaches will address energy poverty outcomes differently depending on the season, but there are opportunities to improve outcomes across all weather conditions.

Also, check out our special issue of the journal People, Policy and Place on Decarbonisation and Energy Poverty.

This email newsletter is produced by the Fuel Poverty Research Network. For more news and events visit our website.