This study investigates the multifaceted issue of energy poverty, focusing on its spatial and socioeconomic dimensions, with a particular emphasis on the case of Chile. Despite global initiatives like Sustainable Development Goal 7, which advocates for universal access to affordable and reliable energy, millions remain vulnerable to energy poverty. In Chile, this phenomenon is exacerbated by geographic and climatic variability, resulting in significant disparities in energy access, affordability, and efficiency. Using a multidimensional framework adapted from Bouzarovski and Petrova, we assessed energy poverty through factors including household income, fuel costs, energy infrastructure reliability, and regional climate needs. This analysis integrated composite indicators to map vulnerability at the regional level, highlighting high-risk areas primarily in the central and southern regions, where low incomes and dependency on biomass for heating amplified exposure occur. The findings reveal that approximately 4 million Chileans face a high risk of energy poverty, underscoring the need for regionally tailored policies that address both immediate economic constraints and structural energy inequalities. This research contributes to a comprehensive understanding of energy poverty in Chile and offers policy recommendations aimed at reducing socioeconomic disparities and achieving sustainable, equitable energy access.

Energy poverty (EP) measurement has expanded from affordability-based indicators to increasingly complex multidimensional frameworks. However, this diversification has also generated a fragmented measurement landscape, marked by uneven dimensional coverage, weak methodological integration, and a strong reliance on context-specific assumptions. This study examines the structural organization of EP metrics by analysing 25 widely used indices through a standardized coding of variables into 18 dimensions and seven methodological approaches. Using network analysis, similarity metrics, and coverage assessment, we identify systematic imbalances in how EP is conceptualized and operationalized. Results show that most indices capture less than 35% of the total dimensional space, while approximately 80% rely on only one or two methodological approaches. In parallel, around 92% of indices are developed within specific national or subnational contexts, limiting their transferability across climatic and institutional settings. These patterns reveal a structurally fragmented system dominated by a narrow set of economic and technical dimensions, with limited incorporation of contextual and structural drivers. The network structure further shows that measurement outcomes emerge from the interaction between variables, methodological choices, and analytical scale, rather than from the inclusion of individual dimensions. Based on these findings, the study reframes EP metrics as integrated evaluation frameworks rather than isolated measurement tools and proposes a three-layer conceptual structure that distinguishes between core outcome, determinant, and structural vulnerability dimensions. This approach provides a basis for improving comparability, interpretability, and policy relevance, supporting the development of more coherent and context-sensitive energy poverty assessments.

Building thermal envelopes are typically characterized by thickness and thermal transmittance, although energy performance depends on the interaction between thermophysical properties, layer number and arrangement within the wall. This study analyzes how climate modifies their relative contribution to annual heating and cooling demand under intermittent air conditioning. A standardized reference dwelling (154 m²) was simulated using DesignBuilder/EnergyPlus across five Köppen climate groups A-E. 200 configurations were evaluated to determine marginal performance thickness ranges, and, using Latin Hypercube Sampling, 6,300 multilayer configurations (1-5 layers) were evaluated to estimate the relative contribution of exterior layer thermal resistance, interior layer resistance, total heat capacity, and number of layers. The marginal performance thickness range varied between 0.10-0.28 m in Cairo and 0.40-0.50 m in Barrow, where exterior layer thermal resistance showed the strongest association with demand (β = -0.82). The number of layers showed greater relative weight in Cairo (β = -0.65) and Temuco (β = -0.53), while in Cali resistance and total heat capacity showed comparable correlations with demand (r = -0.59 in both cases). In two-layer walls, two groups of configurations with similar mean conductivities but distributed in opposite positions within the section showed mean demand percentiles of 31.5 and 63.3, suggesting that the spatial distribution of thermophysical properties may provide information not captured by aggregate values. None of the identified two-layer design families achieved a consistently low demand percentile across the five climates, indicating that specifying the wall through a single aggregate metric does not capture the observed hierarchy of mechanisms.

This study assessed the impact of 39 active and passive energy efficiency measures on the energy demand of a prototype dwelling, modeled through parametric simulations in DesignBuilder across nine climatic zones in Chile, classified according to the Köppen system. Each measure was evaluated individually (single-measure scenarios); three variation levels were evaluated to quantify their relative influence on energy demand. Results indicate that passive strategies are more effective in cold and humid climates, where increasing wall insulation thickness reduced energy demand by up to 45%, and improving airtightness achieved a 43% reduction. In contrast, in tundra climates or areas with high thermal variability, some measures, such as green façades or overhangs, increased energy demand by up to 49% due to the loss of useful solar gains. In desert climates, characterized by high diurnal temperature variation, thermal mass played a more significant role: high-inertia walls without additional insulation outperformed lightweight EPS-based solutions. The findings suggest that measure selection must be climate-adapted, prioritizing high-impact passive strategies and avoiding one-size-fits-all solutions. This work provides quantitative evidence to inform residential thermal design and support climate-sensitive energy efficiency policies. This study delivers a single-measure comparative atlas; future research should integrate multi-measure optimization together with comfort/cost metrics.