How Vulnerable Populations Can Avoid Falling into the Energy Poverty Trap—A Study Based on Freedom of Access to Summer Cooling Equipment

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-825-2_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

global warming; vulnerable groups; energy poverty trap; capability; well-being

Abstract

Global warming has led to frequent extreme weather events. As a typical example of an energy-vulnerable group, the rural elderly population is facing a new “energy poverty trap”—that is, actively or passively reducing the frequency of air-conditioning use during hot weather for various reasons, which in turn leads to increased health risks such as heatstroke and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In light of this, this study adopts a capability approach and employs a multi-case study methodology to explore the underlying factors influencing the willingness to consume cooling services and the usage behaviors of this demographic. The findings reveal that economic status is the core factor affecting energy consumption among the elderly, while health status, social networks, and access to information are also significant factors shaping their energy consumption preferences and affordability. Based on these findings, the study proposes optimization pathways and implementation mechanisms aimed at enhancing multidimensional capability. The goal is to improve the risk-response capacity of energy-vulnerable groups in the face of heatwaves, safeguard their basic well-being under climate change scenarios, and prevent them from falling into new forms of energy poverty.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Qiujia Wang
AU  - Yizhi Chen
AU  - Xueling Wei
AU  - Qi Guo
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/10
TI  - How Vulnerable Populations Can Avoid Falling into the Energy Poverty Trap—A Study Based on Freedom of Access to Summer Cooling Equipment
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 5th International Conference on Public Service, Economic Management and Sustainable Development (PESD 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 4
EP  - 17
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-825-2_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-825-2_2
ID  - Wang2026
ER  -