Energy Inequality Indicators: A Comprehensive Review for Exploring Ways to Reduce Inequality
<p>Diverse terminology for the concepts of energy inequality.</p> "> Figure 2
<p>A diverse array of energy inequality dimensions.</p> "> Figure 3
<p>A structured and systematic framework for assessing energy inequality dimensions: addressing specifics of content and research gaps.</p> "> Figure 4
<p>The ways for energy inequality reduction.</p> ">
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- ✓
- Approximately 733 million people, or one in ten people worldwide, still lack access to electricity. Additionally, around 2.4 billion people, or one-third of the global population, do not have access to clean cooking facilities [2].
- ✓
- The top 10% of income earners consume approximately 20 times more energy than the bottom 10% as the study that examined energy inequality among income classes in 86 countries shows. It also emphasized the unequal distribution of energy footprints across countries. For instance, a notable finding is that the poorest 20% of the UK’s population consumes more than five times the energy per person compared to the bottom 84% in India [3].
- ✓
- Rising fuel prices contribute to a significant increase in the average costs of electricity generation worldwide. This has led to a concerning trend where the number of people without access to modern energy is increasing for the first time in a decade. Approximately 75 million individuals who recently gained access to electricity are at risk of losing it due to affordability issues, and 100 million people may resort to using traditional biomass for cooking [4].
- ✓
- In the European Union, approximately 31 million households were unable to adequately heat their homes in 2021. This figure is equivalent to about 7% of the EU population. Particularly affected by this are Bulgaria and Lithuania with 23.7% and 22.5% of the population, respectively [5].
- ✓
- In theEuropean Union, almost 29 million people (6.2% of the EU population) reported arrears on their utility bills in 2021. Greece has the highest share in the EU with 26.3% of the population facing arrears, followed by Bulgaria with 19.2% [6].
2. Theoretical Basis
3. Results
3.1. The Concept
- ✓
- a condition in which a household is unable to secure a socially and materially needed level of energy services in the home [45];
- ✓
- a constraint in access and affordability of modern forms of energy, especially electricity [29];
- ✓
- a situation where a household is unable to meet the socially and materially necessary level of energy services within their home [37];
- ✓
- the inability of families to have enough and affordable high-quality energy to survive and satisfy their development needs [14];
- ✓
- a situation of inability to realize the essential capabilities due to insufficient choice in accessing affordable, reliable, adequate, quality, and safe energy services in a reasonable manner [28];
- ✓
- inadequate alternative energy types and inappropriate circumstances for accessing energy adequately, affordably, in constant supply, in an uninterrupted manner, and through environmentally sustainable new energy services that contribute to attaining economic and human advancement [9].
3.2. The Impact
3.3. The Dimensions
3.4. The Indicators
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Journal | Number of Articles | Share |
---|---|---|
Energy Economics | 8 | 13.11% |
Energy Research & Social Science | 7 | 11.48% |
Sustainability | 3 | 4.92% |
Journal of Cleaner Production | 3 | 4.92% |
Environmental Science and Pollution Research | 3 | 4.92% |
Nature Energy | 2 | 3.28% |
Energy Policy | 2 | 3.28% |
Environmental Science & Policy | 2 | 3.28% |
Energy and Buildings | 2 | 3.28% |
Technological Forecasting and Social Change | 2 | 3.28% |
Energies | 1 | 1.64% |
Energy | 1 | 1.64% |
Applied Energy | 1 | 1.64% |
Global Sustainability | 1 | 1.64% |
Energy for Sustainable Development | 1 | 1.64% |
Environmental and Sustainability Indicators | 1 | 1.64% |
Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews | 1 | 1.64% |
Environmental Development | 1 | 1.64% |
Journal of Environmental Protection and Ecology | 1 | 1.64% |
Sustainable Production and Consumption | 1 | 1.64% |
Frontiers in Energy Research | 1 | 1.64% |
Frontiers in Public Health | 1 | 1.64% |
Frontiers in Sustainable Cities | 1 | 1.64% |
Environmental Research Letters | 1 | 1.64% |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | 1 | 1.64% |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 1 | 1.64% |
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Engineering Sustainability | 1 | 1.64% |
Applied Sciences-Basel | 1 | 1.64% |
One Earth | 1 | 1.64% |
Buildings | 1 | 1.64% |
Data & Policy | 1 | 1.64% |
Regional Statistics | 1 | 1.64% |
Lancet Global Health | 1 | 1.64% |
Applied Geography | 1 | 1.64% |
SSM-Population Health | 1 | 1.64% |
BMC Pediatrics | 1 | 1.64% |
Geoforum | 1 | 1.64% |
Key Information | Meta-Indicator | Description |
---|---|---|
Bibliometric information | Authors, titles, publication date, etc. | - |
Research topics, keywords, purpose, findings, etc. | - | |
Publication types | Research articles or review articles. | |
Research scales | Global, regional, national or local. | |
Geographic locations | Differentiated by region (Europe, North America, South America, Australia, Asia, Africa, or global). | |
Model information | Model types and methods used | - |
Model spatial range | Global, regional, national, or local. | |
Model purposes | Ex-ante analysis, ex-post analysis, relationships exploration. | |
Dimensions | Dimensions (approaches) through which energy inequality are assessed. | |
Indicators | Indicators (variables) proposed to measure energy inequality. |
Model Purpose | Number of Articles | Share |
---|---|---|
Ex-post analysis | 37 | 60.66% |
Relationships exploration | 18 | 29.51% |
Ex-ante analysis | 6 | 9.84% |
Model Spatial Range | Number of Articles | Share |
---|---|---|
Regional | 26 | 42.62% |
Global | 25 | 40.98% |
National | 5 | 8.20% |
Local | 5 | 8.20% |
Geographic Locations | Number of Articles | Share |
---|---|---|
Global | 22 | 36.07% |
Europe | 15 | 24.59% |
North America | 11 | 18.03% |
South America | 6 | 9.84% |
Africa | 3 | 4.92% |
Australia | 2 | 3.28% |
Asia | 2 | 3.28% |
Dimension | Type | Indicator |
---|---|---|
Accessibility [14,23,24,32,65,66,67,68], etc. | Objective | Electricity accessibility (% of population). |
Electricity accessibility in urban areas. | ||
Electricity accessibility in rural areas. | ||
Household accessibility. | ||
Access to basic services. | ||
Distance to water. | ||
Per capita water resources. | ||
Per capita water consumption. | ||
Urbanization rate. | ||
Sewage treatment rate. | ||
Water utilization rate. | ||
Water consumption. | ||
Waste water emission. | ||
Drinking water: source of water, water treatment. | ||
Subjective | Dissatisfaction with electricity supply conditions. | |
Availability [10,21,23,26,53,66,68,67,69], etc. | Objective | Energy availability. |
Water availability. | ||
Food availability. | ||
Energy source and kitchen appliances. | ||
Lighting and electrical appliances. | ||
Domestic hot water system. | ||
Type of refrigerator associated with its energy efficiency. | ||
Lack of adequate energy services, including electricity, modern cooking fuels, entertainment, education, telecommunications, and electric appliances, along with high indoor pollution levels. | ||
The ownership of electric appliances (lamps, fans, televisions, radios, mobile phones, landline phones, fridges, microwaves, personal computers, washing machines, and air conditioners). | ||
Improved sanitation: toilet facility, handwash, shared toilets. | ||
Housing conditions: floor, roof, walls. | ||
Primary energy production per capita. | ||
Subjective | Participants were asked to indicate their household’s primary source(s) of energy for daily use and requirements (e.g., cooking, boiling water, heating, and lighting) using a checklist of the following: (a) direct connection to a power grid; (b) connection to power grid via other client; (c) self-installed solar panels and batteries; (d) diesel generators; and (e) wood and other combustion material. | |
Reliability [26,32], etc. | Objective | System average interruption duration index. |
System average interruption frequency index. | ||
Supply capacity. | ||
Voltage oscillations. | ||
Subjective | Experience of electric outages in daily lives. | |
Affordability [14,18,20,22,25,32,37,40,41,61,69,70], etc. | Objective | Energy burden: the county-level average proportion of income spent on housing energy bills for low- and moderate-income households. |
Energy price: world annual average crude oil price. | ||
Minimal energy production costs. | ||
Inability to pay an energy bill. | ||
Receipt of a shutoff or service termination notice. | ||
Actual disconnection from service. | ||
Ability to face an unexpected expense. | ||
Required energy expenditure over the national median and a residual income below the official poverty line. | ||
Required energy expenditure over the national median and a residual income below the poverty line. | ||
Fuel costs above the median level and residual equivalized income after fuel expenditure below the official poverty line. | ||
Net residual income, after housing costs, that is insufficient to cover their energy expenses after covering other minimum living costs. | ||
Average share of energy billings (including charges for electricity/gas/water/kerosene/gasoline) out of monthly household income, calculated using the energy expenditure approach. | ||
Indicator of whether the budget share exceeded 10%, a traditional measure of energy poverty. | ||
Annual expenditure on energy (electricity, gas, and other heating fuel) as a proportion of annual household disposable income (budget share). | ||
Identifies households that cannot afford to maintain the dwelling at an adequate temperature during the cold months. | ||
Identifies households that cannot afford to maintain the dwelling at an adequate temperature during the hot months. | ||
Identifies households that had one or more arrears in utility bills in the last 12 months. | ||
The percentage of households within a county that are overcrowded or lack kitchen or plumbing facilities. | ||
Identifies dwellings with leaks, dampness in walls, floors, ceilings, or foundations, and/or rot in floors, window frames, or doors. | ||
Identifies dwellings without means of heating or with central heating or room-heating appliances but not used when necessary. | ||
Identifies dwellings without an air conditioner or with an air conditioner but not used when necessary. | ||
The low income–high cost (LIHC) indicator of energy poverty, taking into account income and energy cost circumstances. | ||
Subjective | Inability to heat the home due to a shortage of money. | |
Inability to pay electricity, gas, or phone bills on time due to a shortage of money. | ||
Feelings about electricity costs, specifically focusing on households selecting “very expensive”. | ||
Adequacy [39], etc. | Objective/subjective | Consider whether households face difficulties in heating and cooling their homes due to financial constraints. |
Cleanability [8,9,14,30,54,59,60,61,62,63,64,70,71,72,73,74,75,76], etc. | Objective | Energy use. |
Energy demands. | ||
Energy intensity. | ||
CO2 emission. | ||
Methane emission. | ||
PM2.5 air pollution. | ||
Exceedance of air quality limit. | ||
Relationship between GDP per capita and the greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. | ||
Minimal use of fresh water through reusing. | ||
Forest area. | ||
Biodiversity. | ||
Fossil fuel energy consumption. | ||
Electricity production from renewable sources, excluding hydroelectricity. | ||
Final energy consumption by uses in residential and service sectors. | ||
Urban waste generation. | ||
Urban waste recovery. | ||
Clean fuels accessibility and technologies for cooking. | ||
Investment in environmental pollution control as a percentage of GDP. | ||
Renewable capacity trend installation. | ||
Threshold for the peak power. | ||
Minimal total non-processing energy. | ||
Minimal number of setup machines to avoid emissions. | ||
Final energy consumption by mode of transport. | ||
Vehicle fleet. | ||
Km travelled by mode of transport and activity. | ||
De-installation of conventional thermal plants. | ||
Sectoral decarbonization. | ||
Energy ecological footprint. | ||
Energy ecological pressure index. | ||
Energy ecological support coefficient. | ||
Acceptability [10,14,49,61,73], etc. | Objective | Energy intensity level of primary energy. |
Non-fossil to total energy consumption. | ||
Sustainable transportation. | ||
Energy-efficient buildings. | ||
Renewable energy consumption (measured as a share of total final energy consumption). | ||
More efficient appliances and systems (needs to be combined with sufficient capacity). | ||
Energy biocapacity. | ||
Per capita energy biocapacity. | ||
Developability [10,13,14,35,77], etc. | Objective | Investment in renewable energy. |
Renewable power generation. | ||
Renewable energy: terawatt hours of solar, wind power, and geothermal and biomass generation. | ||
Primary energy consumption per capita | ||
Innovation. | ||
Low-carbon technology innovation. | ||
Exogenous technological progress. | ||
Energy innovation. | ||
Environmental innovation/green technology. | ||
Renewable energy technology innovation. | ||
Eco-innovation. | ||
Green technology innovation. | ||
Clean technology innovation. |
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Volodzkiene, L.; Streimikiene, D. Energy Inequality Indicators: A Comprehensive Review for Exploring Ways to Reduce Inequality. Energies 2023, 16, 6075. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166075
Volodzkiene L, Streimikiene D. Energy Inequality Indicators: A Comprehensive Review for Exploring Ways to Reduce Inequality. Energies. 2023; 16(16):6075. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166075
Chicago/Turabian StyleVolodzkiene, Lina, and Dalia Streimikiene. 2023. "Energy Inequality Indicators: A Comprehensive Review for Exploring Ways to Reduce Inequality" Energies 16, no. 16: 6075. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16166075