[14.12.22] People affected by energy poverty feel less healthy EmpowerMed shows 

During the implementation of practical activities to tackle energy poverty, the EmpowerMed project researched the energy poverty aspects in the six pilot regions: Albania (Vlore), Croatia (Zadar), France (Marseille), Italy (Padova), Slovenia (Obala), Spain (Barcelona). An in-depth questionnaire, aiming at mapping the energy poverty situation of households that participated in practical actions of EmpowerMed project, researched over 670 people, affected by energy poverty. As EmpowerMed is focused on women, a little over two thirds of the sample consists of women. 

While only slightly over half of the overall sample (54%) can keep their dwelling adequately warm in winter, even less participants (39%) can keep their home adequately cool in summer. Theses result suggest that summer thermal comfort is quite a significant issue from an energy poverty perspective – even more so in view of climate change and the ever more recurrent heat waves to be endured in the Mediterranean in coming decades. 

When taking a look at health, there is a correlation between energy poverty and assessment of health: people that are affected by energy poverty display lower levels of self-reported health than people that are not affected by energy poverty. This finding goes for physical as well as mental health. 

More information on how the gender, health and summertime energy poverty nexus is manifested in the studied households across the six pilot areas in the Mediterranean can be found in the EmpowerMed analysis here: https://www.empowermed.eu/resource/exploring-the-situations-of-households-affected-by-energy-poverty-empowermed-cross-pilot-analysis/