In an era of U.S. energy abundance, the persistently high energy bills paid by low-income households is troubling. After decades of weatherization and bill-payment programs, low-income households still spend a higher percent of their income on electricity and gas bills than any other income group. Their energy burden is not declining, and it remains persistently high in particular geographies such as the South, rural America, and minority communities.

Over half of the population of the world live in
urban areas. This means that efforts to meet human
development goals and sustain economic growth
must be concentrated in cities. However, the pursuit
of more prosperous, inclusive and sustainable urban
development is complicated by climate change, which
multiplies existing environmental risks, undermines the
effectiveness of existing infrastructure, and creates new
resource constraints.
In this paper, we conclusively demonstrate that there

In 2009, the European Union adopted high-level goals for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas reductions with targets set toward the year 2020. This was followed in 2012 by adoption of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) (2012/27/EU), which included as a major component a requirement for Member States to create Energy Efficiency Obligations Schemes (EEOSs) on energy companies or equivalent alternative measures, and those provisions have now been in effect for three years.