Observational study reveals high energy poverty despite warm indoor temperatures in low-income households, suggesting heating costs force trade-offs against food and clothing.
This study investigates the indoor environmental conditions of low-income households in Hokkaido. Winter indoor environmental problems and their influencing factors were analyzed, and the Energy Poverty Index (EPI) was calculated to examine the relationship with energy expenditure burden. The results show that most detached houses maintained comfortable indoor temperatures, although low-income households tended to rely on individual heating. Public housing also maintained warm indoor conditions. However, window condensation exceeded 90%, EPI was high, and deprivation in food and clothing was more prevalent than heating deprivation, suggesting that maintaining heating may place pressure on other household expenditures.
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Nakano et al. (2026) studied this question.
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