Energy Poverty and Low Carbon Energy Transition

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 16; no. 2; p. 610
• Main Authors: Streimikiene, Dalia, Kyriakopoulos, Grigorios L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.01.2023
• Subjects: challenges; Electricity distribution; Energy; energy poverty; Financial inclusion; Households; Housing policy; Infrastructure; low carbon energy transition; Poverty; Subsidies; Technology adoption; Pakistan; Asia; China; Africa; India
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en16020610

In the recent two decades of recorded literature, energy poverty is increasingly understood as a multi-dimensional issue caused by the low-carbon energy transition. In this study, a literature review was performed, the outcome of which confirmed the contentious nature of energy poverty at the regional and international levels of analysis. Furthermore, the collected literature enabled the identification of those domains under which energy poverty is prevailing. The impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war on energy prices and energy poverty were also considered key issues of interest in recently published studies (published within the last five years). While all the collected studies in the literature review covered a wide geographical context worldwide, a comprehensive analysis of nurturing energy poverty sources and their consequences was primarily and foremost understood in the household sector, which was the research focus of this study, accordingly. Moreover, future research guidelines that should be drawn regarding energy poverty alleviation were also proposed.