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A critical review of modern approaches for multidimensional energy poverty measurement

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Setu Pelz, Shonali Pachauri, Sebastian Groh

Published Online: May 22 2018

DOI: 10.1002/wene.304

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Recent efforts to measure energy poverty more comprehensively attempt to redress the shortcomings of binary metrics that remain in common use. However, significant challenges remain both with the construction of the new measurement frameworks and their application. The paper presents an analysis of recent multidimensional measurement approaches and applications to draw inferences on the implications of applying these for the measurement of energy access and in informing policies aimed at improving it. The assessment suggests that despite progress having been made in capturing the multidimensional nature of energy poverty, the new measures are currently too complex to operationalize at the global level and too prescriptive to gain acceptance in diverse national contexts. Further efforts are thus required to consolidate and simplify the new frameworks for global tracking purposes, and to adapt and modify these to specific country contexts to inform national policy and planning. A subset of key energy poverty dimensions and uniform set of indicators need to be shortlisted for the purposes of global comparisons, while specific national tracking efforts can apply dimensions and thresholds most suited to accurately capture energy poverty and its drivers in a given context. This article is categorized under: Energy Policy and Planning > Economics and Policy Energy and Development > Economics and Policy Energy Infrastructure > Economics and Policy

Multidimensional Energy Poverty Index dimensions and respective variables with cutoffs, including relative weights (in parenthesis) (Reprinted with permission from Nussbaumer et al., 2012 © Copyright 2012 Elsevier)

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Modifying the multitier framework for distinct global tracking and national planning purposes

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Tracking access at global and national levels (World Bank; International Energy Agency, )

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Comparison of the modified Multitier Framework for access to cooking energy services in India (Reprinted with permission from Jain et al., 2016 © 2016 Copyright Practical Action Publishing)

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Excerpt of the Multitier Framework matrix for measuring indoor air quality: Rough and conservative approach. (Bhatia & Angelou, )

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Multitier Framework matrix for access to household electricity services (Bhatia & Angelou, )

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Further Reading

Bhatia, M, Angelou, N. Beyond connections: Energy access redefined; 2015.
Culver,, L. (2017). Energy poverty: What you measure matters. In Pre‐symposium white paper for ‐ Reducing energy poverty with natural gas: Changing political, business, and technology paradigms (pp. 1–25). Stanford, CA: Natural Gas Initiative, Stanford University.
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UN. (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development (Technical Report).

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