CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Tirado Herrero, Sergio |
|---|---|
| Title | FUEL POVERTY ALLEVIATION AS A CO-BENEFIT OF CLIMATE INVESTMENTS: EVIDENCE FROM HUNGARY |
| Summary | This dissertation evaluates the relevance of co-benefits (i.e., non-climate benefits) for improving the rationale and scale of climate investments. It focuses on fuel (or energy) poverty, a situation in which a household is unable to afford sufficient domestic energy services and/or is forced to pay a disproportionate share of its income on domestic energy. Fuel poverty is understood as a combined social, environmental and energy challenge whose alleviation results in considerable welfare gains for the affected population. Taking Hungary as a case study, the dissertation has assessed the extent, causes and characteristics of fuel poverty in Hungaryand conducted a cost-benefit analysis of two scenarios proposing a significant upgrade of Hungary’s currently existing residential energy efficiency policies. One first key conclusion is that fuel poverty, which is affecting a substantial fraction (between 10 to 30%) of the Hungarian population, has been on the rise since the mid-2000s in parallel to arapid increase in the price of imported natural gas. Faced with this situation, households are resorting to the use of traditional fuels and other imperfect coping strategies harming their welfare in various ways. Collected evidence has also identified two previously unreported typologies of fuel poverty (among poor Roma households in rural areas and in prefabricated panel buildings connected to district heating) that defy conventional notions of fuel poverty as defined in Western Europe. Even though household incomes and energy prices are important causes of fuel poverty, the energy performance of residential buildings is regarded as a key structural factor and lever for its solution. Based on this premise, the dissertation has assessed through a financial and social cost-benefit analysis (CBA) two residential energy efficiency scenarios: MID (40% energy savings for heating per dwelling) and DEEP (79 to 90% energy savings for heating per dwelling). In the financial CBA only monetary cash flows (retrofit costs and energy savings benefits) are considered. In the social CBA, building retrofit and program management costs (as transaction costs) are compared against energy saving and other non-market benefits (avoided GHG and non-GHG emissions, reduced fuel poverty-related excess winter mortality and comfort benefits). The results of the social CBA indicate that even though MID scenario delivers positive Net Present Values (NPV) at an earlier stage, DEEP retrofits delivers a larger amount of discounted net social benefits in the long term (from 2040). Compared with the financial CBA, the social CBA results in earlier positive NPVs for both scenarios and enhances the appeal of DEEP retrofits from an applied policy perspective. This comparison evidences the relevance of fuel poverty-related non-market co-benefits in contexts where domestic energy costs are on the rise and/or a heavy burden on household budgets. This multi-dimensional analysis of the effects residential energy efficiency emphasises the importance of the co-benefits as policy entry-points for advancing the implementation of advanced residential energy efficiency solutions. In countries with moderate levels of commitment to global climate goals and high or increasing fuel poverty rates, these results may contribute to redefining the rationale behind climate investments. |
| Supervisor | Ürge-Vorsatz, Diana |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/tirado-herrero_sergio.pdf |
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