Assessing summer energy poverty through building simulation and adaptive thermal comfort analysis: a Spanish case study.

M. Morán Camacho, R. Barrella, E.M. Arenas

Resumen:

Energy poverty remains a persistent challenge across Europe and is mainly driven by inefficient buildings, low incomes and high energy prices.  In 2023, one-third of the Spanish population reported being unable to keep their homes sufficiently cool during summer, highlighting the need to better understand the relationship between actual cooling energy use and indoor thermal conditions. While energy poverty research has traditionally focused on winter conditions, increasing summer overheating and extreme heat events are making cooling-related energy vulnerability an emerging concern. This study develops the Summer Energy Poverty Gap, a novel framework for assessing this issue by jointly considering actual cooling energy consumption, the energy required to maintain adaptive comfort conditions and thermal discomfort under real operating conditions. The framework was applied to a sample of vulnerable households in Zaragoza (Spain), a city with a Mediterranean continental climate. Hourly indoor air temperature measurements and electricity consumption data were used to calibrate Building Energy Simulation (BES) models. The calibrated models were then compared with required-energy scenarios based on Spanish normative and adaptive comfort criteria.

Results reveal significant deviations between actual and required energy consumption, and substantial differences in indoor thermal comfort. Low measured energy use is associated with constrained comfort rather than efficiency, whereas higher consumption may reflect poor building performance or ineffective cooling practices. The proposed framework identifies different forms of summer energy vulnerability and illustrates the value of calibrated BES models for distinguishing actual and required energy consumption, quantifying thermal discomfort, and supporting targeted renovation strategies in vulnerable households.

Resumen divulgativo:

Este artículo presenta el «Summer Energy Poverty Gap» (SEPG), un marco novedoso para evaluar la pobreza energética en verano mediante la integración de simulaciones energéticas calibradas de edificios y el confort térmico adaptativo. El marco se ilustra mediante un estudio de caso de cinco hogares vulnerables de Zaragoza (España), lo que permite comparar las condiciones reales, la demanda energética necesaria para alcanzar el confort y los beneficios de las intervenciones de rehabilitación energética.

Palabras clave: Summer energy poverty; Building energy simulation; Model calibration; Adaptive thermal comfort; Vulnerable households; Cooling Energy Gap; Thermal Comfort Gap

Fecha de Registro: 23-jul-2026