{"623619":{"#nid":"623619","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Brook Byers Prof. Brown Takes Deep Dive into Energy Poverty in New Paper","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;In an era of U.S. energy abundance, the persistently high energy bills paid by low-income households is troubling.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; So begins the abstract to a new paper authored by Brook Byers Professor Marylin Brown and several co-authors.\u0026nbsp; Prof. Brown is also a Georgia Regents\u0026rsquo; Professor, Director of the Georgia Tech Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory, and a Nobel Laureate.\u0026nbsp; The paper was recently published in the open access journal Progress in Energy, the full title of which is \u0026ldquo;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2516-1083\/ab250b\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELow-income Energy Affordability in an Era of U.S. Energy Abundance\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThis paper is a review of the current literature on energy costs in low-income households in the U.S. \u0026nbsp;The review reveals that socio-economic factors of the energy landscape put an onerous burden on poor households.\u0026nbsp; Programs meant to alleviate the burdens of energy insecurity are not particularly effective.\u0026nbsp; The authors draw four general conclusions:\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cul\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003EEnergy burden is highest among low-income households.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELow-income energy burden is worsening despite programs and funds tasked to help.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELow-income households cannot take advantage of many of the policies and programs that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\t\u003Cli\u003ELow-income utility customers receive a disproportionately small share of the funding targeted to improve residential energy efficiency.\u003C\/li\u003E\r\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EThe authors point out that the most common models for policy interventions into energy poverty were begun in the 1970\u0026rsquo;s.\u0026nbsp; Few innovations or adjustments have been made to them despite a changing energy environment.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Currently, short term solutions, like financial assistance with utility bills, vastly outweigh programs with longer term effects such as weatherization or appliance replacement programs.\u0026nbsp; The focus on the short-term financial needs of low-income rate payers tends to perpetuate energy insecurity, rather than offering efficiency investments, which have proven to be a more durable solution.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EMany other policy solutions are suggested in the paper including inter-agency coordination, targeting low-income multi-family housing, implementing technology solutions such as smart thermostats, and innovations in the financing of energy upgrades.\u0026nbsp; The authors also emphasize that some programs result in additional benefits which aren\u0026rsquo;t usually accounted for.\u0026nbsp; For example, members of households that undergo a weatherization process have better overall health than those that receive other energy help.\u0026nbsp; Weatherization results in improved indoor air quality, which is thought to lead to better overall health.\u0026nbsp; This, in turn, results in multiplying the financial benefits due to reduced sick days and lower healthcare costs.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EInsights, like the one outlined above, prompted the authors to suggest more holistic and scalable approaches to addressing energy poverty in conjunction with other health and poverty related issues. \u0026nbsp;Professor Brown and her collaborators conclude that the transition to a sustainable energy future need not leave behind those at the low end of the income spectrum.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;In an era of U.S. energy abundance, the persistently high energy bills paid by low-income households is troubling.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp; So begins the abstract to a new paper authored by Brook Byers Professor Marylin Brown and several co-authors.\u0026nbsp; Prof. Brown is also a Georgia Regents\u0026rsquo; Professor, Director of the Georgia Tech Climate and Energy Policy Laboratory, and a Nobel Laureate.\u0026nbsp; The paper was recently published in the open access journal \u003Cem\u003EProgress in Energy\u003C\/em\u003E, the full title of which is \u0026ldquo;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/iopscience.iop.org\/article\/10.1088\/2516-1083\/ab250b\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003ELow-income Energy Affordability in an Era of U.S. Energy Abundance\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch2\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022\/bigideas\/brook-byers-prof-brown-takes-deep-dive-energy-poverty-new-paper\u0022\u003ERead More...\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/h2\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Brook Byers Professor Marylin Brown and several co-authors have published a paper on energy poverty in _Progress in Energy_."}],"uid":"27338","created_gmt":"2019-07-22 23:44:05","changed_gmt":"2019-07-24 11:56:08","author":"Brent Verrill","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-07-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-07-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"617552":{"id":"617552","type":"image","title":"Marilyn Brown","body":null,"created":"1549654607","gmt_created":"2019-02-08 19:36:47","changed":"1549654607","gmt_changed":"2019-02-08 19:36:47","alt":"","file":{"fid":"235058","name":"Brown Portrait High Res 2018.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Brown%20Portrait%20High%20Res%202018.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Brown%20Portrait%20High%20Res%202018.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1084696,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Brown%20Portrait%20High%20Res%202018.png?itok=uDJJRLdN"}}},"media_ids":["617552"],"groups":[{"id":"244191","name":"Brook Byers Institute for Sustainable Systems"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"}],"keywords":[{"id":"166871","name":"bbiss_big_ideas"},{"id":"330","name":"Marilyn Brown"},{"id":"181802","name":"energy poverty"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EBrent Verrill\u003C\/a\u003E, Communications Manager, BBISS\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["brent.verrill@sustainable.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}