Source: TU Delft
The Renovation Wave: An opportunity to tackle energy poverty?
MSc. Thesis by Mobeen Nawaz
In the wake of tackling energy poverty by its roots and protecting vulnerable households, the European Commission is keen to use renovation, also referred to as retrofitting, as a lever to address climate change, energy poverty, and the access to healthy houses by aiming to renovate 35 million inefficient buildings by 2030, with the so-called Renovation Wave. This strategy aims to reduce energy bills by renovating buildings while also creating many additional green jobs in the construction sector and improving residents’ quality of life, health, and well-being.
Nonetheless, recent research has shown that renovation programs have failed to address energy poverty as climate and social policy suffer from fragmented jurisdictions lacking an intersectoral integration between renovation and social policies while neglecting vulnerable groups such as low-income households and disabled persons at the city level. As a response, various scholars have called for an explicit consideration of equity in the European renovation policy. Using a Case-Study Mixed-Methods approach, this research suggests exploring ways to identify vulnerable groups and include equity into renovation policy at the city level. These results will support policymakers to include equity in the current distribution of renovation resources to address energy poverty.