2024-03-17 18:52:04
Adults aged 60 and over living in industrialized countries spend more money on heating and running their electrical appliances than younger citizens. These seniors are also more likely to have difficulty lowering these prices, according to a study partly carried out by researchers at the University of Maryland.
The research team, which also includes specialists from the Universities of Shandong, China, and Groningen, the Netherlands, also found that energy costs represent an increasing share of income as people are getting older.
This study was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Seniors tend to stay at home longer due to their health needs, and therefore consume more energy at home. Their trends in terms of energy consumption are also shaped by generational and habit-related factors, as is the case for baby boomers, who consume more gasoline in line with their vehicle preferences. motorized,” says Professor Kuishuang Feng, professor of geographic sciences and one of the authors of the work.
“This leads to a greater financial burden when it comes to energy. »
Researchers have also highlighted the fact that when energy costs increase, the solutions for seniors are not as simple as managing their money better or finding another job. According to them, few new positions are being created for people aged over 55, for example in the United States.
“Low-income seniors face significant barriers to reducing their carbon footprint and managing their energy bills due to limited cash flow, physical constraints, and the fact of living in older and more energy-intensive homes,” underlines Professor Laixiang Sun, also co-author of the research work.
“Lack of information, difficulties adapting to new technologies, and prioritizing health and other expenses over less energy-intensive investments all exacerbate this problem. »
Significant expenses
Using surveys of household spending, researchers found that the burden of energy costs among those aged 60 and over was greater than in three other age groups, those aged 30 and over. years and under, 30-44 year olds and 45 to 59 year olds.
In the United States, energy accounts for 12.7% of seniors’ spending, compared to 11.3%, 10.9%, and 10.6% among other groups, respectively.
In Japan, energy eats up an even larger share of the seniors’ budget, i.e. 15%, while for other groups, it is more a question of 12.7%, 12.4% and 9.3%, respectively. .
Still according to the researchers, it appeared that this impact is, without too many surprises, more significant among the poorest seniors, i.e. 16.9% for American elderly people, compared to 17.1% among the same group, at Japan.
These conclusions, write the specialists, add to the previous work of Professor Feng, who was interested in the consumption of older adults, including within the framework of a study, published in Nature Climate Changewhich revealed that adults aged 60 and over, from industrialized countries, increased their GHG emissions by 7.5% between 2005 and 2015, placing them in a position to overtake the most “polluting” age group , i.e. 45 to 59 years old.
According to the professor, the new findings make it more necessary than ever for political decision-makers to get involved and tackle this issue; not only to help promote comfort for seniors, but also to fight the climate crisis.
“Even though previous public policies have included low-income people to reduce the impact of energy price increases, the challenges of poorer seniors have not received enough attention,” he said. he declares.
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