Adequate housing and affordable warmth are essential human needs, the lack of which may seriously harm people's health. Germany provides an allowance to low-income households, covering the housing as well as the space heating cost, to protect people from the consequences of poor housing...Read more
With current fuel poverty and carbon-saving policies continuing to miss their targets in the UK, the synergy between the two problems is investigated to highlight an approach that could be mutually beneficial. Focussing on the 550,000 fuel poor socially housed dwellings in the UK, costs of...Read more
The health impacts of tackling fuel poverty are reviewed, drawing primarily on large-scale studies completed in the last 10 years. Although physical health effects on adults appear to be modest, caregivers and children perceive significant impacts on children’s respiratory health. There also...Read more
This paper describes an energy-efficient housing stimulus strategy that can: (1) quickly provide large-scale job creation; (2) reduce home energy bills by 30–50% with associated reductions in emissions and energy assistance spending; (3) stabilize home values and reduce foreclosure inventory; (4...Read more
A randomised trial of 178 patients in Aberdeen, UK with a previous hospital admission for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was carried out in order to determine whether improving home energy efficiency improves health-related quality of life in COPD patients. 118 patients were...Read more
The aim of this article is to evaluate the impact of rural electrification on the reduction of energy poverty in Brazil through the analysis of 23,000 rural domiciles or rural properties between the years 2000 and 2004. The results indicate a fast change in the profile of energy consumption and a...Read more
The typical ingredients of energy reforms in the European Union (EU) in the 1990s were full or partial privatization, vertical disintegration and liberalization. This paper analyses the effects of energy reforms on the probability of households experiencing deprivation, defined as difficulty in...Read more
The purpose of this paper is to explore the legal aspects of post-communist district heating (DH) reforms in Romania, with the aim of identifying some of the governance challenges faced by state authorities in managing the sector. In broader terms, we seek to explore the extent to which the...Read more
On summer and winter months, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality rates vary throughout Europe. For example, areas with mild winters seem to be the ones with higher number of seasonal mortality. In fact, Portugal is one of the southern countries together with Ireland that have higher mortality...Read more
Heat waves and cold spells pose ongoing seasonal risks to the health and well-being of vulnerable individuals. Current attempts to address these risks in the UK are implemented through fuel-poverty strategies and heat-wave planning. This paper examines evidence from the UK on whether heat waves...Read more