Energy Poverty: Considerations for Socially Sustainable Shifts Towards Renewable Energy Sources

摘要

Recent years have witnessed growing concern over a phenomenon long deemed extinct in Western Europe: energy poverty - a term referring to people's inability to sufficiently heat and light their homes - has reentered the political agenda as an increasing number of people is affected all over Europe. While this may be regarded as just one facet of poverty in an increasingly segmented society it is one deeply rooted not only in households' low recourses but also in high energy prices and insufficient energy efficiency of buildings. This triangle of drivers makes energy poverty a highly complex matter to deal with, starting from the very definition of the problem. So far, no such definition is available in most of EU member states, let alone on European level. Accordingly, reliable statistical data on the scope of the problem is mostly missing. A scrutiny of existent propositions for the definition of energy poverty reveals that defining the problem in itself already implies a political statement on who is to be targeted in this respect. This is even more so the case for the design of suitable measures of counteraction; While at the moment most of such measures aim at providing affected households with consultancy on energy saving behaviour this has to be regarded as just one step into tackling the overall problem. Leaping further beyond, strategies against present and future energy poverty primarily have to aim at improving thermal standards of buildings as well as providing energy poor families respectively households with options to use renewable energy sources. This paper investigates energy poverty in Austria with a special focus on gender issues and migrants.