Between 50 and 125 million people are at risk of energy poverty in the EU. Efforts to address this issue will require a suite of measures informed by participatory and inclusive approaches.
EnergyMEASURES will work to address energy poverty in seven European countries (BE, BG, IE, MK, NL, PL, UK) through two complementary and synergistic strands of work. Namely, through direct household engagements that are complemented and informed by cutting edge policy and practice innovations.
The first strand will involve working with energy poor households to improve their energy efficiency through a combination of low-cost measures, and changes in their energy-related behaviours and practices. EnergyMEASURES will map out key indicators characterising those most at-risk of energy poverty, and will leverage partners’ ongoing projects and use their existing relationships with energy poor and at-risk households to recruit them for the household energy engagement programmes. Recruited householders will be provided with low-cost energy measures and empowered to change their energy-related behaviours and practices through an approach that is cognisant of existing housing conditions and is reflective of the lived experience of householders.
The second strand will comprise working with municipalities, energy authorities, housing associations and other relevant actors to assess how current multi-level institutional contexts affect efforts to alleviate energy vulnerability in the participating countries. These interlinked activities will also consider gender differentials in both people’s relationship with institutional actors and their lived experience of energy, and EnergyMEASURES will work to mainstream this approach across the wider energy poverty community. Through this work the project contributes to reducing participants’ vulnerability to energy poverty, while at the same time cutting household energy consumption and associated GHG emissions.