Mapping Priority Energy Intervention Areas in Birmingham (UK)
Abstract
A reduction of energy consumption and efficient clean solutions in buildings are needed to face the climate change. Thus, a sustainable roadmap should be addressed, fostering urban strategies that reduce energy and social inequalities. However, uncertainties to identify and map households’ conditions limit this process Priority Intervention Areas (PEIA) methodology, based on geographic information systems, characterizes energy deprived areas by overlapping of the lowest values of the Index Energy Deprivation (IED) and the Index Multiple Deprivation (IMD). IED, defined to this aim, locates energy vulnerable areas, facing differences between real and theoretical consumptions associated to user´s behavior. Thus, an urban classification based on building properties and age of construction is developed. IMD deal with socioeconomic and environmental aspects. The city of Birmingham and its east corridor is evaluated as case of study. 23 Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) has located as PEIA, represented mainly by terraced houses. East Birmingham shows lower values of IED and IMD, identifying 6 PEIA with a higher deprivation intensity compared to the whole city. The proposed method fosters detailed, fair and low carbon strategies to tackle the new climate scenarios.