Energy Poverty Observatory in Calabria

Creating a Regional observatory has the purpose of supporting study activities, disclosure, analysis and research conducted by the OIPE with particular reference to the Calabrian regional territory, and at noon in general, in order to collect and process data sets and information useful for activating, in the near future, efficient law enforcement policies and measures behavioural effective.
The percentage of Italian families in a state of energy poverty, indeed, is approximately 8% of the total (2,1 millions of families), with an incidence in the South equal to 14%, as indicated in the data of the latest OIPE report of 2019.
Despite the presence of supporting national economic instruments, eat bonus energy, personal income tax deductions and tax credits, only the 36% of potential beneficiaries would actually have requested such incentives.

The Observatory therefore intends to pursue the following objectives:

• support the development of a method for determining energy poverty indicators contextualized to the regional context;
• strengthen relations at national and European level on research and the fight against energy poverty;
• support the creation of collaboration networks between the research world, institutions, companies and voluntary associations;
• encourage the development of operational strategies for contrast;
• sensitize citizens to a more conscious use of energy resources in the home.

The Observatory, coordinated by Prof. Marilena De Simone, and promoted by Polo Green Home, intends to activate a series of activities with the collaboration of associations / entities /stakeholder present in the area and sensitive to the issue, can be divided into four phases set out below.

Phase 1 - Surveys and sampling
The identification of measures to combat energy poverty that are efficient and useful to the population, cannot ignore the in-depth knowledge of the territory and its actual problems. A tal fine, studies and surveys will be carried out aimed at achieving the following results:

• mapping of the territory for the identification of families in energy poverty;
• profiling and clustering of families in terms of behavioral variables, significant technical and socio-economic;
• identification of possible obstacles to access to support measures present on the national territory.

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Phase 2 - Definition of targeted intervention strategies
The know-how acquired in the previous phase, will act as a 'start-point' for the subsequent definition of the implementation measures to combat energy poverty. From the analysis and processing of the acquired data, "problem cases" will be identified to be answered by identifying specific intervention actions, that allow not only a reduction in energy costs, but also an improvement in the quality of life, in terms of comfort and psycho-physical well-being, within the home environment.

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Phase 3 - Field experimentation
The effectiveness of the set of intervention actions defined in the previous phase, will be tested on a representative sample of Calabrian families in conditions of energy poverty. The preliminary step will be the creation of a solidarity collaboration network that will allow the implementation of "domestic energy retrofit" measures at no cost for the beneficiary users..

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Phase 4 - Monitoring, scalability and replicability of solutions
The sample families will be monitored for a predetermined period in order to be able to test in the field the effectiveness of the actions developed and to optimize the proposed solutions where necessary, in order to make them replicable also in other territorial contexts.
The goal of making the initiative scalable and feasible to an increasingly large sample of families, it will be pursued through the creation and consolidation of a solidarity network between entities, associations and companies sensitive to the issue.

The study and research activities aimed at achieving the widely described objectives were launched in January 2020 and relate:

• the collection and processing of data on the behavior of occupants and the physical characteristics of residential buildings. The data were collected through the formulation of a questionnaire distributed in digital format and administered via interview to users located in more than 50 municipalities of Calabria;
• data screening in order to assess its reliability and completeness, especially as regards the energy consumption of homes.
• creating a sample consisting of 233 utilities on which investigations have been initiated.

The aspects investigated for the creation of the user sample concern:

• characterization of energy costs and consumption;
• systems for the production and use of domestic hot water (ACS);
• heating and cooling systems;
• definition of employment in the various rooms of the house;
• definition of equipment usage profiles;
• definition of profiles for the use of ventilation and solar shading;
• definition of the DHW usage profiles;
• mode of cooling and heating of domestic environments;
• user profiling for demographic and socio-economic characteristics.

More specifically, data relating to the production and use of domestic hot water systems are being processed (ACS) through descriptive and inferential statistical analyzes and techniques of clustering. These analyzes concern the production systems and the energy source used according to the climatic zone, the type of dwelling, the populousness of the municipality of residence and the annual income of the families.