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Addressing Thermal Comfort in Regional Energy Poverty Assessment with Nussbaumer’s MEPI

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  • Tiare Robles-Bonilla

    (Centro de Investigación en Ingeniería y Ciencias Aplicadas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Ave. Chamilpa 1001, Cuernavaca CP 62209, Mexico)

  • Karla G. Cedano

    (Instituto de Energías Renovables-UNAM, Xochicalco, Azteca, Temixco CP 62588, Mexico)

Abstract

Research on energy poverty (EP) started in the United Kingdom and other Western European countries in response to the Oil Crisis in 1973. In the last few years, the European community has made important breakthroughs on the topic, by establishing clear terminology as well as funding different multidisciplinary and intersectoral task groups that have EP understanding and alleviation as their goal. Several different methodologies have been developed to measure EP. For instance, the multidimensional energy poverty index (MEPI) by Nussbaumer et al. (2012) has been successfully used in Africa and in seven Latin American countries. Mexico does not have an official measure, indicator, or index on EP. However, a very important energy service has been overlooked: thermal comfort. In the present work, MEPI was understood as an energy services deprivation calculation, and thermal comfort was included. Understanding the regional nature of thermal comfort, we searched for weather-based regionalizations that could address a whole country diversity. We applied two regionalizations, one strongly related to political divisions (called climatic), and a another used for household design and construction standards (bioclimatic). The bioclimatic regionalization had a better fit when assessing energy services deprivation, since it addresses exclusively geographical and weather conditions, instead of the artificial political divisions. Having better ways to assess the level of EP in the local context is a key factor to develop effective public policies that might alleviate EP in a sustainable way.

Suggested Citation

  • Tiare Robles-Bonilla & Karla G. Cedano, 2021. "Addressing Thermal Comfort in Regional Energy Poverty Assessment with Nussbaumer’s MEPI," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:1:p:352-:d:473918
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Moore, Richard, 2012. "Definitions of fuel poverty: Implications for policy," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 19-26.
    2. Oscar S. Santillán & Karla G. Cedano & Manuel Martínez, 2020. "Analysis of Energy Poverty in 7 Latin American Countries Using Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, April.
    3. Mendoza, Celedonio B. & Cayonte, Dwane Darcy D. & Leabres, Michael S. & Manaligod, Lana Rose A., 2019. "Understanding multidimensional energy poverty in the Philippines," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    4. Quishpe Sinailin Pablo & Taltavull de La Paz Paloma & Juárez Tárraga Francisco, 2019. "Energy Poverty in Ecuador," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-19, November.
    5. Bouzarovski, Stefan & Petrova, Saska & Sarlamanov, Robert, 2012. "Energy poverty policies in the EU: A critical perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 76-82.
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    1. Karla G. Cedano & Tiare Robles-Bonilla & Oscar S. Santillán & Manuel Martínez, 2021. "Assessing Energy Poverty in Urban Regions of Mexico: The Role of Thermal Comfort and Bioclimatic Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-13, September.
    2. Ochoa, Rigoberto García & Avila-Ortega, Daniel Itzamna & Cravioto, Jordi, 2022. "Energy services' access deprivation in Mexico: A geographic, climatic and social perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    3. Pedro Macedo & Mara Madaleno & Victor Moutinho, 2022. "A New Composite Indicator for Assessing Energy Poverty Using Normalized Entropy," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(3), pages 1139-1163, October.

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