Peter Heller Coauthors Research Article on Energy Poverty in the US

Energy Research Associate Peter Heller coauthored a research article, “US Federal Resource Allocations are Inconsistent with Concentrations of Energy Poverty,” that was recently published in Science Advances, Vol. 10, No. 41.

Recent data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that nearly one in three households in the United States report experiencing energy poverty, which occurs when families either lack adequate access to modern energy services and/or allocate a significant portion of their resources to energy bills. As climate change, coupled with the US’s decarbonization and electrification goals, leads to an increase in the cost of energy services, energy poverty is only expected to rise in the coming years. In the article, the authors develop a method for estimating energy poverty levels across the country and use these estimates to assess how federal assistance allocations – made under the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) – align with the spatial distribution of energy poverty.

The article, available below, was cited in a recent Newsweek article.