Energy poverty in Portugal: Combining vulnerability mapping with household interviews

By Ana Horta, João Gouveia, L. Schmidt, João Carlos Sousa, P. Palma, S. Simoes. Energy and Buildings, 2019

116 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Energy poverty seriously affects living conditions and health. In spite of its mild climate, Portugal has been pointed out as one of the most vulnerable countries in the European Union. Due to the multidimensionality of energy poverty, attention needs to be paid to specific factors contributing to it in different contexts. This paper contributes to a better understanding of energy poverty by providing results from a study combining the use of an energy poverty vulnerability index and mapping - based on a detailed quantitative analysis of all 3092 civil parishes -, with interviews conducted with 100 households in ten hotspots across the country. The sample of interviewees includes both rural and urban dwellers, several family types, and individuals of different ages, social and economic status, and living in different types of buildings. Results show the extent, but also variability, of vulnerability to energy poverty throughout the country. Findings also show that households may consider normal and acceptable to feel both cold and hot at home, either in winter or in summer. This can hinder the social recognition of the energy poverty problem and the need to tackle its negative consequences on the well-being and health of the population.

Subfields: Energy Engineering and Power Technology, Pollution, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/349ee3cae5cfa1c789ad45f5211a68e05b98cee4

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In Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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Citations in the corpus

Confronting Energy Poverty in Europe: A Research and Policy Agenda (2021, background): “[62] find that “more affluent regions and households have lo er levels of vulnerability to energy poverty” (p.”
Objective vs. subjective fuel poverty and self-assessed health (2020, background): “It is even possible that some of those who live in fuel poverty are not aware of the seriousness of their situation because they assume that certain thermal discomfort at home can be ‘normal’ (Horta et al., 2019).”