Fuel and Transport Poverty in the UK Energy Transition, 2022

The FAIR project explored the causes and links between fuel poverty and transport poverty in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It collected interview data to draw up policy recommendations designed to limit the impacts of double energy vulnerability in the transition to a more sustainable future.

Tens of millions of households across Europe struggle to afford adequate electricity and heating services and reliable transportation, while recent high fuel prices could lead to an increase in excess winter deaths. Tackling energy and transport poverty is thus of paramount policy importance. Here, we document the drivers and lived experiences of energy and transport poverty in the United Kingdom based on expert interviews. We find a set of policies that resonate with expert planners, implying they have a level of political and social acceptability that other measures may be lacking, notably: mandatory landlord energy efficiency upgrades, increasing the extent of financial assistance to households, cheaper (or even free) bus and train fares and restarting and expanding bus services. We buttress these findings with further suggestions for energy and transport system redesign that better meets emerging principles of energy and social justice.<p>This proposal responds to a call from the Research Councils for a national Centre on energy demand research, building on the work of the existing six End Use Energy Demand Centres, for which funding ends in April 2018.

Energy demand reduction is a UK success story, with a 15% fall in final energy consumption since 2004. Major further reductions are possible and will be needed, as part of a transformation of the energy system to low carbon, to deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UK carbon budgets. Moreover, a low carbon energy system will be increasingly reliant upon inflexible and variable electricity generation, and therefore demand will also need to become more flexible. In short, changes in energy demand reduction will need to go further and faster, and demand will need to become more flexible.

These challenges have far-reaching implications for technology, business models, social practices and policy. Our vision is for energy demand research in the UK to rise to these challenges. The Centre's ambition is to lead whole systems work on energy demand in the UK, collaborating with a wider community both at home and internationally. We aim to deliver globally leading research on energy demand, to secure much greater impact for energy demand research and to champion the importance of energy demand for delivering environmental, social and economic goals.

Our research programme is inter-disciplinary, recognising that technical and social change are inter-dependent and co-evolve. It is organised into six Themes. Three of these address specific issues in the major sectors of energy use, namely: buildings, transport and industry. The remaining three address more cross-cutting issues that drive changing patterns of demand, namely the potential for increased flexibility, the impact of digital technologies, and energy policy and governance.
Each Theme has a research programme that has been developed with key stakeholders and will provide the capacity for the Centre to inform debate, deliver impact and share knowledge in its specific area of work. The Themes will also undertake collaborative work, with our first joint task being to assess the role of energy demand in delivering the objectives of the UK Government's Clean Growth Plan.

The Centre will also include Challenges that respond to cross-thematic questions for UK energy demand. These will mostly be developed in consultation over the early years of the Centre, and therefore only one is included in the initial plan: on the decarbonisation of heat.

The Centre will function as a national focus for inter-disciplinary research on energy demand. In doing this it will need to respond to a rapidly evolving energy landscape. It will therefore retain 25% of its funds to allocate during the lifetime of the Centre through a transparent governance process. These funds will support further challenges and a 'Flexible Fund', which will be used to support research on emerging research questions, in particular through support for early career researchers.

We are working closely with key stakeholders in business and policy to design our research programme and we plan detailed knowledge exchange activities to ensure that the work of the UK energy demand research community has broader societal impact.</p>

FAIR项目探究了英格兰、苏格兰、威尔士及北爱尔兰地区燃料贫困（fuel poverty）与交通贫困（transport poverty）的成因及二者间的关联。项目通过采集访谈数据，制定了旨在限制双重能源与交通脆弱性（double energy vulnerability）在向更可持续未来转型过程中所产生影响的政策建议。

欧洲数千万家庭难以负担充足的电力、供暖服务与可靠的交通出行，而近期高企的燃料价格可能导致冬季超额死亡（excess winter deaths）人数上升。因此，解决能源与交通贫困已成为政策制定的重中之重。本研究基于专家访谈记录，梳理了英国能源与交通贫困的驱动因素及民众的切身经历。我们发现了一系列受专家规划者认可的政策举措，这意味着这些政策具备其他措施可能缺乏的政治与社会接受度，具体包括：强制房东实施建筑能效升级、加大对家庭的财政援助力度、下调（甚至免费提供）公交与铁路票价，以及恢复并拓展公交服务。本研究还通过提出能源与交通系统重构的进一步建议，佐证了上述研究发现，该重构方案可更好地契合当前新兴的能源与社会正义（energy and social justice）原则。

本提案响应了英国研究理事会（Research Councils）关于设立国家能源需求研究中心的号召，该中心将依托现有六个终端用能需求研究中心（End Use Energy Demand Centres）的工作基础开展研究，现有中心的资助将于2018年4月到期。

能源需求削减是英国的一项成功实践，自2004年以来，英国终端能源消费量已下降15%。作为能源系统向低碳转型的组成部分，进一步大幅削减能源需求不仅可行，且十分必要，以实现《巴黎协定》（Paris Agreement）与英国碳预算目标。此外，低碳能源系统将愈发依赖灵活性不足且波动性较强的发电方式，因此能源需求也需提升灵活性。简言之，能源需求削减的改革需进一步提速加码，且能源需求需具备更强的灵活性。

这些挑战对技术、商业模式、社会实践与政策均具有深远影响。我们的愿景是推动英国能源需求研究应对上述挑战。本中心的目标是牵头开展英国能源需求全系统研究，并与国内外更广范围的研究群体开展合作。我们致力于产出全球领先的能源需求研究成果，大幅提升能源需求研究的影响力，并倡导能源需求在实现环境、社会与经济目标中的核心价值。

本研究计划为跨学科研究，认可技术变革与社会变革相互依存、协同演进的关系。研究计划下设六大主题：其中三个主题聚焦能源消费三大核心领域的具体问题，即建筑、交通与工业；剩余三个主题则聚焦推动需求模式变革的跨领域议题，即需求灵活性提升潜力、数字技术的影响，以及能源政策与治理。

每个主题均配套了与关键利益相关方共同制定的研究计划，将支撑本中心在各自工作领域开展政策咨询、成果转化与知识分享。各主题还将开展协同研究，首项联合任务为评估能源需求在实现英国政府《清洁增长计划》（Clean Growth Plan）目标中所发挥的作用。

本中心还将设置若干研究挑战议题，以回应英国能源需求领域的跨主题问题。这些议题大多将在中心运营初期通过磋商制定，因此初始规划中仅纳入一项：供暖脱碳。

本中心将作为英国能源需求跨学科研究的国家级核心平台。为此，本中心需适配快速变化的能源格局。因此，本中心将留存25%的运营资金，在中心存续期内通过透明的治理流程进行分配。该部分资金将用于支持新增研究挑战议题与一项“灵活基金”（Flexible Fund），后者将用于资助新兴研究课题，尤其支持青年科研人员。

我们正与商业与政策领域的关键利益相关方紧密合作制定研究计划，并规划了一系列细致的知识交流活动，以确保英国能源需求研究共同体的成果能够产生更广泛的社会影响。