One in three American households today experiences “energy poverty,” or the inability to access sufficient amounts of electricity and other energy sources due to financial constraints. 

Though federal financial assistance is available, it’s allocated largely based on rules written in the 1980s and disproportionately provides aid to Northern states, which historically have had high heating bills.

In the decades since, populations have shifted, temperatures have risen, and energy needs have evolved. A recent paper co-authored by MIT Sloan professor Christopher Knittel, director of MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research and the MIT Climate Policy Center, calls for an update.

Knittel and his co-authors propose a more data-intensive formula for calculating how funds should be distributed. The formula would predict a household’s energy use, incorporate existing state-level population and income data, and be modified annually to better distribute aid where it’s needed most — primarily areas of the South that experience hot, humid summers.

“This misallocation is going to continue to grow,” Knittel said. “As the climate warms, it will reduce how much energy is needed to heat homes in the North but increase, by a large amount, cooling costs in the South. Southern U.S. households are going to suffer.” 

Para leer más ingrese a:

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/energy-poverty-hits-us-residents-more-south-and-southwest-study-finds