Energy Vulnerability Composite Index in Social Housing, from a Household Energy Poverty Perspective

Abstract

In Europe, the proportion of social housing is high, and such houses tend to be inhabited by below average-income households, which are particularly vulnerable to energy poverty. This article proposes a new methodological approach for defining an index for household energy vulnerability assessment. This method can be used to improve the management of social housing. After establishing a heuristic framework for household energy poverty-which stems from different causes such as income, the characteristics of the residence, energy installations, and the energy-consumption habits of household members-multi-criteria analytical methods, based on the aggregation of indicators which reveal the conditions leading to energy poverty, have been applied, and effective means of intervention are proposed. The method is also applied to a sample of social houses and thus validated as a useful tool in decision-making processes which concern the management of social housing from a household energy-poverty perspective.

A System Model and An Innovation Approach toward Sustainable Housing Renovation

“…A firm's environmental goals of sustainability may concern energy consumption, water efficiency, toxic waste prevention, etc. In terms of sustainable renovation, many previous studies focus on the environmental aspects such as reducing energy use [4,16,17].…”

Big Data and Energy Poverty Alleviation

“…Energy efficiency Ratio of end-use energy to Bangladesh, China, Germany total energy [54,55] Energy gap (difference between Portugal, Global South, building's energy demand Attika(Greece), China, Germany and consumption) [45,47,55,59] Type of heating/cooling system [42,45,48,50,55,59] Greece, Global South, Attika(Greece), Spain, Zaragoza(Spain), China, Germany dwelling insulation against EU, Global South the cold/warm [27,41,59] Belgium…”

“…Year of house construction Greece, Japan, Portugal, (housing's age) [42,[45][46][47][48]59] Global South, Attika(Greece), Zaragoza(Spain)…”

Housing Indicators for Sustainable Cities in Middle-Income Countries through the Residential Urban Environment Recognized Using Single-Family Housing Rating Systems

“…Several researchers have recently applied housing indicators in order to achieve or enhance sustainability [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]; some of these investigations refer to social housing [17,18,21,22]. Among the indicators that were analyzed are those referring to household vulnerability; these studies found that social housing tends to be inhabited by people with below-average incomes [18,21] who are vulnerable to energy poverty. To solve this issue, Llera-Sastresa proposed a methodological approach based on indicators that improves energy management in social housing [21].…”