Energy poverty in Europe: Challenges for energy efficiency

Energy and fuel poverty is an increasing problem in the European Union. Although the specific conditions vary from country to country the drivers defining fuel and energy poverty are similar in all Europe. This paper aims to present the characteristics of the low income housing including details on the thermal and environmental quality of houses and the specific energy consumption. Existing energy efficiency and passive solar technologies to improve the energy and environmental quality of low income houses are reviewed and discussed while real projects addressing issues related to the energy performance of poor households are presented.