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The Current Energy Triad: Poverty, Transition and Security

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 3496

Special Issue Editors

Head of the Business Administration Department, Faculty of Economic Sciences, Petroleum-Gas University of Ploiesti, B-dulBucuresti, No.39, 100680 Ploiesti, Prahova, Romania
Interests: green and business management, project management, competitive advantage, environmental management
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy, Bucuresti, Romania
Interests: economic theories at micro and macro level; sustainable development; demoeconomics, economics of human resources; labor market, employment policies employment and wage policies; social politics; population and labor mobility; regional policies; budgetary policies, FDI and export, FDI impact on employment and labour productivity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Economics, Epoka University, Tirana 1032, Albania
Interests: growth economics; economic theory; economic development; poverty analysis; economic analysis; economics of education; foreign direct investment; income inequality; sustainable development strategies; economic growth; regional economics; quality evaluation; higher education quality; economic policy analysis; economics analysis; applied macroeconomics; academic development; sustainable development education
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Auditing Department, Hubei University of Economics, Wuhan, China
Interests: sustainable development; financial accounting; auditing; corporate governance; carbon accounting

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The last few years have represented a great challenge for humanity. Along with the COVID-19 pandemic, the evolution of economic, social, environmental, and security factors has generated major difficulties at the level of the economy of a country and at the level of the individual. The high prices for energy, oil, and gas, together with the beginnings of a presumed food crisis, have created pressure on a global scale, with the following months representing a real trial for both governments and the general population. Energy has gradually come to the attention of the public, authorities, and researchers, and its complex impact has been reconsidered in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) released in 2015. SDG 7 is focused on ensuring “access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” as fundamental to the improvement of living standards and the overall reduction of poverty. It can be said that the immediate challenges of the moment refer to the triad of energy issues: poverty, transition, and security. Despite efforts to increase economic convergence and promote development, the European Union faces substantial gaps between members, with poverty and social exclusion being prevalent in the new Member States (Ferrera et al., 2002; Copeland et al., 2012). One of the less discussed forms of poverty is energy poverty, even though it is an extremely crucial aspect of our lives and modern basic living standards. Bouzarovski et al. (2014) defined energy poverty as “existing problems of inadequate access to energy in developing countries, involving a host of economic, infrastructural, social equity, education and health concerns”. Indeed, energy poverty has different faces and is a widespread phenomenon in both developed and emerging countries. Despite the progress in the European Union on the establishment of the Energy Union and the facilitation and boosting of the new energy transition, a considerable proportion of member countries are still affected by energy poverty (Duica et al., 2019; Neacșa et al., 2020). The concerns of EU countries are intense, the Energy Poverty Advisory Hub being one of the forums in which specialists from different scientific fields are looking for solutions to reduce this intensity. The phenomenon of energy poverty mainly affects vulnerable consumers in former communist countries that are now members of the EU. On the one hand, these countries are facing aging housing in urban areas and less performant facilities for the production and supply of electricity. On the other hand, the liberalization of the energy market has had severe negative externalities on the population, the increase in energy prices generating deepening energy poverty, with many households, both in urban and rural areas, being unable to pay energy bills and to properly heat their homes in the cold season (Teschner et al., 2020). Energy poverty therefore increases social risks and has an impact on health status for vulnerable consumers. One of the solutions to reduce energy poverty is the use of renewable energy. The new energy transition is a complex challenge that requires not only technological changes in the relevant companies, but also behavioral changes in consumers, who must become as responsible as possible, with education playing an important role (Shahbaz & Balsalobre, 2019; Leitão & Balsalobre-Lorente, 2020; Apostu et al. 2022).

The process of the gradual replacement of fossil fuels with energy sources with low carbon emissions, proposed and started a few years ago, in relation to the content of the European Green Deal pact and to the current economic, social, and political situation, has acquired new dimensions and new content. The current situation is neither economically nor politically favorable, so the energy transition must be rethought and redesigned in the light of the complex events that have occurred in the last 2-3 years. In addition, the geo-political instability and the significant increase in energy and gas prices has generated major concern from governments (especially those of Europe) in terms of their ability to meet the consumption needs for energy and gas. This need to ensure energy security creates great pressure in the field of renewable energies and so-called green fuels. The current situation requires a prudent and balanced approach from decision-makers because it is quite difficult to quickly implement projects for the use of renewable resources, which is why fossil fuels have returned (partially) to the discussions and measures related to energy production.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to collect relevant studies from both the EU and other countries to identify measures to reduce energy poverty, to achieve a faster and easier transition towards the use of renewable resources in energy production, and to promote actions for the development of investments in the field of energy in order to reduce the level of dependence on imports. These measures, actions, and projects can be incorporated into the energy policies of EU countries, in specific laws such as the law on poverty reduction, or targeting social protection measures for vulnerable energy consumers. Additionally, this Special Issue aims to promote some good practices and quality interdisciplinary research on the factors, limits, risks, and opportunities for smart energy consumption based on an increased share of renewable sources, increased enegy efficiency, policy recommendations addressing wider energy access, increased affordability for individuals, and closing the gap between SMEs and energy poverty.

References

Apostu, S.A., Panait, M. & Vasile, V. 2022- The energy transition in Europe – a solution for net zero carbon?, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, ISSN 0944-1344, EISSN 1614-7499, Springer Heidelberg, DOI 10.1007/s11356-022-20730-z

Bouzarovski, S.; Petrova, S.; Tirado-Herrero, S. From Fuel Poverty to Energy Vulnerability: The Importance of Services, Needs and Practices; Working Paper Series SWPS 2014-25; University of Sussex: Brighton, UK, 2014.

Copeland, P., & Daly, M. (2012). Varieties of poverty reduction: Inserting the poverty and social exclusion target into Europe 2020. Journal of European Social Policy, 22(3), 273-287.

Druică, E., Goschin, Z., & Ianole-Călin, R. (2019). Energy poverty and life satisfaction: Structural mechanisms and their implications. Energies, 12(20), 3988.

Ferrera, M., Matsaganis, M., & Sacchi, S. (2002). Open coordination against poverty: the new EU social inclusion process'. Journal of European Social Policy, 12(3), 227-239.

Leitão, N. C., & Balsalobre-Lorente, D. (2020). The causality between energy consumption, urban population, carbon dioxide emissions, and economic growth. In Econometrics of green energy handbook (pp. 111-130). Springer, Cham.

Neacsa, A., Panait, M., Muresan, J. D., & Voica, M. C. (2020). Energy poverty in European Union: Assessment difficulties, effects on the quality of life, mitigation measures. some evidences from Romania. Sustainability, 12(10), 4036.

Shahbaz, M., & Balsalobre, D. (Eds.). (2019). Energy and Environmental Strategies in the Era of Globalization. Springer.

Teschner, N., Sinea, A., Vornicu, A., Abu-Hamed, T., & Negev, M. (2020). Extreme energy poverty in the urban peripheries of Romania and Israel: Policy, planning and infrastructure. Energy Research & Social Science, 66, 101502.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Energy towards sustainable development;
  • Poverty and economic empowerment;
  • Reliable, clean, high-quality and safe energy services;
  • Availability of energy sources at an affordable price;
  • Wellbeing and quality of life in relation to energy challenges;
  • Energy access and consumption;
  • Energy audits;
  • Energy efficiency;
  • Social support and vulnerable consumers;
  • Energy trends and prices.

Prof. Dr. Catalin Popescu
Prof. Dr. Mirela Panait
Prof. Dr. Valentina Vasile
Dr. Eglantina Hysa
Dr. Muhammad Bilal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • energy poverty
  • energy transition
  • energy security
  • sustainable development
  • economic empowerment
  • reliable and clean energy
  • energy efficiency
  • energy access and consumption
  • vulnerable consumers
  • fossil fuels vs. renewable resources
  • energy prices

Published Papers (2 papers)

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20 pages, 2657 KiB  
Article
Energy Transition Scenarios for Energy Poverty Alleviation: Analysis of the Delphi Study
by Blanka Tundys and Agnieszka Bretyn
Energies 2023, 16(4), 1870; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16041870 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1369
Abstract
Energy poverty is a phenomenon that is affecting an increasing number of EU citizens. It occurs when people are unable to buy enough energy to meet their needs at a socially acceptable level. Despite the many efforts and measures taken to prevent this [...] Read more.
Energy poverty is a phenomenon that is affecting an increasing number of EU citizens. It occurs when people are unable to buy enough energy to meet their needs at a socially acceptable level. Despite the many efforts and measures taken to prevent this negative phenomenon, the looming energy crisis could exacerbate it. On the one hand, efforts towards energy transition are intended to prevent this phenomenon, but on the other hand, inadequate restraint on the energy market may lead to its escalation. Various scenarios need to be analysed to ensure that the risks associated with energy shortages do not lead to even greater levels of energy poverty, with negative consequences for societies, economies, and the environment. Using a scenario approach and expert research, as well as mathematical–statistical tools, the article presents possible scenarios related to the implementation of measures affecting energy transformation and the transition to renewable energy sources in economies. These measures can change the phenomenon of energy poverty. The results of the analysis conducted in the article showed that there is a relationship between the increase in GDP per capita and the degree of energy consumption from renewable sources. In addition, there is a negative correlation between the degree of use of energy from renewable sources and the problem of energy poverty, especially in countries with a relatively lower level of GDP per capita. The current economic and political situation requires research in this area and the identification of possible solutions, as energy poverty is becoming a major social problem. The measures taken to promote sustainable development in an energy crisis situation might not be able to be implemented in a highly satisfactory manner. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Current Energy Triad: Poverty, Transition and Security)
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Review

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25 pages, 9057 KiB  
Review
Past, Present, and Future of Critical Issues in Energy: Poverty, Transition and Security—A Systematic Review
by Catalin Popescu, Eglantina Hysa, Mirela Panait and Arjona Çela
Energies 2023, 16(14), 5484; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145484 - 19 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1400
Abstract
In these last decades, especially after the Russia–Ukraine war, the impact of energy related to issues, such as energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security have been heavily debated. To comprehend the conceptual development of this subject in the academic literature, few studies [...] Read more.
In these last decades, especially after the Russia–Ukraine war, the impact of energy related to issues, such as energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security have been heavily debated. To comprehend the conceptual development of this subject in the academic literature, few studies tackle the problems above by reviewing earlier research on the subject. Inspired by this interest and literature ago in this field, this study aimed to address the past, present, and future advancements of critical issues in this regard. Thus, in this review paper performed during February–April 2023, we employed the PRISMA method selecting and checking the review papers articles indexed in the three databases of Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and JSTOR. Then, the research was followed by extending it and adding some other articles discovered on the gray literature. After a detailed classification of articles, a total of 2615 review articles were deemed valid for this analysis. The study’s key contributions is the classification of the some cluster themes for the metasynthesis analyses, which point to potential future directions with a special focus on governmental policies to pursue some macrolevel goals concerning energy poverty, energy transition, and energy security in our daily lives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Current Energy Triad: Poverty, Transition and Security)
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