Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile

In the extreme climate of Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, Energy Poverty (EP) has been historically addressed via a gas subsidy for heating and a discount considering the dwelling’s value, reducing the price paid by the homes by around 70% compared to the national average, albeit without interventi...

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Autores: Valenzuela Pezo, Nicolás, Muñoz Viveros, Cristian, Rubio Bellido, Carlos, Pérez Fargallo, Alexis
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:idus________::f56a5516998cb9595a338539a47ca7a0
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/186910
https://doi.org/10.3390/en19102249
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Heating consumption
Energy subsidy
Thermal retrofitting
Energy retrofitting
Public building policies
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spelling Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, ChileValenzuela Pezo, NicolásMuñoz Viveros, CristianRubio Bellido, CarlosPérez Fargallo, AlexisHeating consumptionEnergy subsidyThermal retrofittingEnergy retrofittingPublic building policiesIn the extreme climate of Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, Energy Poverty (EP) has been historically addressed via a gas subsidy for heating and a discount considering the dwelling’s value, reducing the price paid by the homes by around 70% compared to the national average, albeit without intervention measures for the low thermal performance of the housing stock built before 2000. This study sought to evaluate the technical, economic, and fiscal feasibility of replacing consumption subsidies with thermal retrofitting. A representative standard dwelling (V4, 114 m2) was modeled using dynamic simulation in DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus and calibrated against monthly gas consumption (July 2024–June 2025) using normalized mean bias error (NMBE) and the coefficient of variation in the root-mean-square error (CV(RMSE)) according to ASHRAE Guideline 14. The baseline and retrofitted scenarios were compared and extrapolated to the pre-2000 stock of 38,605 homes at coverage levels of 0%, 20%, 50%, and 80%. In the standard dwelling, the annual consumption decreased from 5181.5 to 702.5 m3/year (49,224 to 6674 kWh/year), a decrease of 86.4%. On an overall scale, aggregate consumption fell from 1820 GWh/year (0%) to 1562, 1090, and 608 GWh/year at 20%, 50%, and 80% coverage, respectively. With an investment of US$25,289.00 and annual fiscal savings of US$6458.54, the net present value is US$49,470.36, and the benefit/cost ratio is 2.96 over 20 years (6% discount rate), indicating that investment in the housing stock’s performance consistently reduces vulnerability and fiscal pressure.MDPIConstrucciones Arquitectónicas IIRNM162: Composición, Arquitectura y Medio Ambiente2026info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/11441/186910https://doi.org/10.3390/en19102249reponame:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevillainstname:Universidad de Sevilla (US)InglésEnergies, 19 (10), 2249. 1230922https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/19/10/2249info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:dnet:idus________::f56a5516998cb9595a338539a47ca7a02026-06-17T12:51:07Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
title Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
spellingShingle Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
Valenzuela Pezo, Nicolás
Heating consumption
Energy subsidy
Thermal retrofitting
Energy retrofitting
Public building policies
title_short Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
title_full Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
title_fullStr Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
title_full_unstemmed Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
title_sort Energy poverty in extreme climates: thermal retrofitting as an alternative to gas subsidies in Punta Arenas, Chile
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Valenzuela Pezo, Nicolás
Muñoz Viveros, Cristian
Rubio Bellido, Carlos
Pérez Fargallo, Alexis
author Valenzuela Pezo, Nicolás
author_facet Valenzuela Pezo, Nicolás
Muñoz Viveros, Cristian
Rubio Bellido, Carlos
Pérez Fargallo, Alexis
author_role author
author2 Muñoz Viveros, Cristian
Rubio Bellido, Carlos
Pérez Fargallo, Alexis
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Construcciones Arquitectónicas II
RNM162: Composición, Arquitectura y Medio Ambiente
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Heating consumption
Energy subsidy
Thermal retrofitting
Energy retrofitting
Public building policies
topic Heating consumption
Energy subsidy
Thermal retrofitting
Energy retrofitting
Public building policies
description In the extreme climate of Punta Arenas, in southern Chile, Energy Poverty (EP) has been historically addressed via a gas subsidy for heating and a discount considering the dwelling’s value, reducing the price paid by the homes by around 70% compared to the national average, albeit without intervention measures for the low thermal performance of the housing stock built before 2000. This study sought to evaluate the technical, economic, and fiscal feasibility of replacing consumption subsidies with thermal retrofitting. A representative standard dwelling (V4, 114 m2) was modeled using dynamic simulation in DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus and calibrated against monthly gas consumption (July 2024–June 2025) using normalized mean bias error (NMBE) and the coefficient of variation in the root-mean-square error (CV(RMSE)) according to ASHRAE Guideline 14. The baseline and retrofitted scenarios were compared and extrapolated to the pre-2000 stock of 38,605 homes at coverage levels of 0%, 20%, 50%, and 80%. In the standard dwelling, the annual consumption decreased from 5181.5 to 702.5 m3/year (49,224 to 6674 kWh/year), a decrease of 86.4%. On an overall scale, aggregate consumption fell from 1820 GWh/year (0%) to 1562, 1090, and 608 GWh/year at 20%, 50%, and 80% coverage, respectively. With an investment of US$25,289.00 and annual fiscal savings of US$6458.54, the net present value is US$49,470.36, and the benefit/cost ratio is 2.96 over 20 years (6% discount rate), indicating that investment in the housing stock’s performance consistently reduces vulnerability and fiscal pressure.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/11441/186910
https://doi.org/10.3390/en19102249
url https://hdl.handle.net/11441/186910
https://doi.org/10.3390/en19102249
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Energies, 19 (10), 2249.
1230922
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/19/10/2249
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
instname:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
instname_str Universidad de Sevilla (US)
reponame_str idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
collection idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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