Energy poverty is a huge social problem. Academic and policy deliberations about energy poverty focus repeatedly on the same issues: the lack of a shared definition, who is responsible for the problem, and how best to measure it through indicators. We argue that debates at EU and national level do not address the daily reality of people living in energy poverty. The preliminary findings of our ESRC funded project suggest that local actors (e.g., NGOs) make a substantial contribution to bridging the gap between top-down policy and the energy poor. We argue that these actors represent an adaptive response to the inherent limitations of state and supra-national action and, therefore, play a key role in the governance of energy poverty. In presenting this argument, we suggest, as an avenue for future research, nodal governance as a lens through which to understand the role local actors play in the governing order for tackling energy poverty. The article provides an exploratory analysis of these issues, discussed through the selection of four illustrative examples in Italy, France, Catalonia, and England .

中文翻译：

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能源贫困治理的社会和地方层面：对国家偏远的适应性反应

能源贫困是一个巨大的社会问题。关于能源贫困的学术和政策审议反复关注相同的问题：缺乏一个共同的定义，谁对问题负责，以及如何通过指标最好地衡量它。我们认为，欧盟和国家层面的辩论并未解决生活在能源贫困中的人们的日常现实。我们 ESRC 资助项目的初步调查结果表明，当地参与者（例如，非政府组织）为弥合自上而下的政策与能源贫困者之间的差距做出了重大贡献。我们认为，这些行动者代表了对国家和超国家行动固有局限性的适应性反应，因此在能源贫困治理中发挥着关键作用。在提出这个论点时，我们建议，作为未来研究的途径，节点治理作为一个镜头，通过它了解地方行为者在治理能源贫困的治理秩序中所起的作用。本文通过选择意大利、法国、加泰罗尼亚和英国的四个说明性例子对这些问题进行了探索性分析。