Jenny von Platten
Postdoktor
In the Name of Energy Efficiency : Justice and energy poverty in the energy transition of Swedish housing
Author
Summary, in English
Overall, the findings show that the strong focus on energy efficiency in transition policy tends to structurally burden low-income residents. This could be seen in how low-income residents, who were shown to have low per capita energy use for housing, had carried a disproportionate cost burden for energy retrofitting over the past years; in how new policy imposing cold rent in the worst-performing buildings predominantly affected low-income households, and consequently elevated the risk for energy poverty in an already vulnerable part of the housing stock; and in how flexible energy use is consistently assumed to be an ability equally distributed across society. By incorporating flexibility in the conceptualisation of energy poverty, it could be determined what characteristics of a household contribute to their ability to dodge the current energy price peaks, but also who are most likely to be winners and losers in future energy systems increasingly reliant on demand-side flexibility.
In conclusion, the findings in this thesis show that injustices have occurred in the energy transition over the past decade; that these injustices are structural and not coincidental; and that there are risks of injustices continuing to occur and inequality being built into future energy systems. By disclosing the implications of past decisions, the presented thesis provides credible accounts of the need for increased integration of social perspectives in energy policy, and offers practical support for more just pathways ahead. As such, it challenges dominating transition narratives that, in the name of energy efficiency, structurally have put low-income households at the frontline of the energy transition of Swedish housing.
Department/s
- Division of Building Physics
Publishing year
2022-11-01
Language
English
Full text
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Department of Building and Environmental Technology, Lund University
Topic
- Energy Systems
- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Keywords
- Energy transition
- Housing
- Justice
- Energy poverty
- Economic inequality
- Flexibility
Status
Published
Supervisor
- Kristina Mjörnell
- Mikael Mangold
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0349-4950
- ISBN: 978-91-88722-80-5
- ISBN: 978-91-88722-81-2
Defence date
25 November 2022
Defence time
13:00
Defence place
Lecture Hall V:A, building V, John Ericssons väg 1, Faculty of Engineering LTH, Lund University, Lund.
Opponent
- Josefin Wangel (Docent)