A Study of the Unexplored Aspect of Energy Poverty: Overheating Risk Analysis

Energy poverty, defined as the inability of households to afford adequate heating or cooling, is worsened by anthropogenic climate change, leading to increased energy demand and indoor comfort challenges. This study addresses a gap in summer fuel poverty research by focusing on overheating concerns and energy subsidies. This study defines the indoor temperature and overheating risk of low-income households compared with general dwellings based on field measurements and walkthrough surveys. The difference in indoor temperature and overheating risk according to the provision of energy subsidy is analyzed. We evaluate the impact of energy subsidies on indoor temperature and the adequacy of current subsidy programs. Findings show that households without energy vouchers experience indoor temperatures around 29°C, while voucher recipients see a 2°C decrease. During Tropical Night periods, households with energy vouchers maintain similar indoor temperatures to the overall period, while those without vouchers tend to experience a 2°C increase. Although energy vouchers significantly mitigate overheating risks by approximately 95% during the summer, they are not as effective in fully eliminating summer overheating risks compared to previous winter results. This highlights the persisting issue of traditional policies providing integrated electricity subsidies. Hence, addressing indoor overheating during hot summers requires improvements in alternative subsidy distributions or cooling strategies warrants change to the energy voucher payment method or the cooling method.