| 1. |
- Mjörnell, Kristina, et al.
(författare)
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Balancing Social and Economic Sustainability in Renovation with an Affordable Option for Tenants? : A Pilot Study from Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 14:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A public housing company has applied a new renovation strategy, comprising no standards raising and thus rent-raising measures, in 20% of its apartments. Prior to renovation, the tenants were given the opportunity to choose renovation options involving different standards and costs after renovation. The purpose of the study is to follow up and give feedback on the renovation strategy. The aim was to evaluate implementation of the strategy in practice using a case study, in terms of the tenants’ opportunity to influence and the housing company’s profitability. To follow up, two methods were used: a survey of the tenants’ perception of choosing renovation options, and a financial assessment of the profitability based on the renovation cost and rent increase for different choice scenarios. The results from the survey show that the tenants appreciate being able to choose between different renovation options as it gives them the opportunity to decide on their housing costs and standard. With more than half of the tenants choosing the maintenance option involving a very low rent increase, the dividend yield will not be high enough to make the renovation profitable, but if only 20% had chosen the maintenance option, the dividend yield would be more feasible in the long run.
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| 2. |
- von Platten, Jenny, et al.
(författare)
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Energifattigdom i Sverige
- 2022
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Ingår i: Du sköra nya värld. - 9789189673526 ; , s. 195-214
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Inom Europa beskriver begreppet energifattigdom de kompromisser som hushållkan möta avseende att å ena sidan ha en tillräckligt uppvärmd bostad, och å andrasidan ha råd med övriga omkostnader. I Sverige har begreppet tidigare inte använts, och kanske heller inte behövts. Men i december 2021 steg elpriserna till nivåer som gjorde att vissa hushåll, där en rad riskfaktorer sammanstrålade, plötsligt upplevde en situation av energifattigdom. Med ett osäkert geopolitiskt läge och en accelererande energiomställning är mer frekventa elpristoppar att vänta framöver. Detta kapitel undersöker därför upplevda sårbarheter för energifattigdom bland hushållsgrupper i Sverige längs dimensionerna betalningsförmåga och flexibilitet. Det sistnämnda är en viktig förmåga som kan dämpa de ekonomiska effekterna av pristoppar. Resultaten indikerar bland annat att ensamstående med barn tycks ha en förhöjd sårbarhet för energifattigdom då både deras betalningsförmåga och flexibilitet är relativt låga. En mer nyanserad förståelse för hushållens sårbarheter möjliggör effektivare stödinsatser för minskad energirelaterad ojämlikhet.
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| 3. |
- von Platten, Jenny, et al.
(författare)
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Energy efficiency at what cost? Unjust burden-sharing of rent increases in extensive energy retrofitting projects in Sweden
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 92
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although renovation costs can lead to rent increases in energy retrofitting, it is often assumed that reductions in energy costs will counterbalance the rent increase. In Swedish multifamily housing, energy costs for heating are however generally included as a fixed component in the monthly rent, meaning that the rent increase after energy retrofitting corresponds to the net change in rent level as well as energy costs for heating. This makes Sweden a methodologically advantageous setting for studying tenants' cost burden of energy retrofitting. The aim of this study was thus to investigate how energy performance improvement has affected rent increases in Swedish renovation projects between 2013 and 2019. Utilising a national database of multifamily housing, it was found that energy retrofitting entailed a cost relief for tenants in renovation projects with smaller investments. However, in renovation projects with larger investments, energy retrofitting entailed a cost burden for tenants. Moreover, public housing companies had conducted a high share of the extensive energy retrofits, leading to low-income tenant groups being disproportionately subjected to cost burdens of energy retrofitting. On the contrary, light energy retrofits with a cost relief for energy efficiency had been rather evenly distributed across income groups. These results indicate ongoing conflicts with the ability-to-pay principle in the energy transition of Swedish multifamily housing, and suggest that if low-investment energy retrofits are not sufficient for upcoming objectives and requirements, subsidies could be needed to compensate low-income tenants for the cost burden of extensive energy retrofitting.
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| 4. |
- von Platten, Jenny
(författare)
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Energy poverty in Sweden : Using flexibility capital to describe household vulnerability to rising energy prices
- 2022
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Ingår i: Energy Research & Social Science. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 2214-6296 .- 2214-6326. ; 91
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Energy poverty has been kept at bay in Sweden for the past decades owing to several beneficial circumstances. However, geopolitical pressure and an accelerating energy transition are changing the circumstances and exposing vulnerabilities to energy poverty in Sweden particularly connected to electricity price peaks. The circumstantial nature of the exposed risks for energy poverty motivates a conceptualisation of the concept in Sweden through the energy vulnerability framework. Also recognising that flexibility is an important ability to be able to dodge short-term price peaks, this paper combines the energy vulnerability literature with the concept of flexibility capital. Using national survey data from 2021, this study seeks to explore vulnerability to heating-related energy poverty in Swedish single-family housing by analysing factors influencing households' self-perceived ability to pay for heating as well as their self-perceived flexibility capital. Logistic regression models revealed that there are geographic as well as sociodemographic factors influencing the energy vulnerability experienced by Swedish households. Extending the understanding of energy poverty vulnerability beyond mere heating affordability provides a more nuanced understanding of the different types of risks that may emerge among households; for example, low affordability combined with low flexibility capital increases the risk for financial effects of energy poverty, whereas low affordability combined with high flexibility capital increases the risk for energy poverty affecting comfort, convenience and wellbeing. By integrating energy vulnerability with flexibility capital, this paper contributes to a more holistic understanding of challenges connected to a transitioning energy system in general and in the Swedish context in particular. © 2022 The Author
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| 5. |
- von Platten, Jenny
(författare)
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In the Name of Energy Efficiency : Justice and energy poverty in the energy transition of Swedish housing
- 2022
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The energy transition of housing is accelerating in parallel with economic inequality reaching historically high levels. There is thus an opportunity to reduce inequalities in living conditions, but also a risk that the costs of the transition are unequally distributed and aggravate existing inequalities. In order to seize the opportunity for a just transition, and in tandem enable a meaningful introduction of energy poverty to the Swedish political agenda, the aim of the presented thesis is to explore how the energy transition of Swedish housing is affecting social justice and vulnerability to energy poverty. This is done by novel conceptualisations, that draw on existing theory particularly relevant for the current context, of what a just energy transition of Swedish housing entails, and how energy poverty can be understood in the Swedish context; but also by adding empirical rigour to the discussion in analysing how costs and burdens of the transition have been shared between income groups, and how vulnerabilities to energy poverty are distributed among households. Overall, the findings show that the strong focus on energy efficiency in transition policy tends to structurally burden low-income residents. This could be seen in how low-income residents, who were shown to have low per capita energy use for housing, had carried a disproportionate cost burden for energy retrofitting over the past years; in how new policy imposing cold rent in the worst-performing buildings predominantly affected low-income households, and consequently elevated the risk for energy poverty in an already vulnerable part of the housing stock; and in how flexible energy use is consistently assumed to be an ability equally distributed across society. By incorporating flexibility in the conceptualisation of energy poverty, it could be determined what characteristics of a household contribute to their ability to dodge the current energy price peaks, but also who are most likely to be winners and losers in future energy systems increasingly reliant on demand-side flexibility. In conclusion, the findings in this thesis show that injustices have occurred in the energy transition over the past decade; that these injustices are structural and not coincidental; and that there are risks of injustices continuing to occur and inequality being built into future energy systems. By disclosing the implications of past decisions, the presented thesis provides credible accounts of the need for increased integration of social perspectives in energy policy, and offers practical support for more just pathways ahead. As such, it challenges dominating transition narratives that, in the name of energy efficiency, structurally have put low-income households at the frontline of the energy transition of Swedish housing.
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