This section shows four maps inspired by the Clean Energy Transition Institute’s (CETI) Community-Defined Decarbonization report, which aimed to understand the relationships between energy inequities and socioeconomic disparities across communities in the Northwest.  

Energy burden is the annual share of a household’s income spent toward energy bills and is a common measure of energy insecurity. On average, households in the United States spend 3% of their annual income on energy costs. However, energy burden is not distributed equally, with the most vulnerable households experiencing the most energy insecurity.

The technical and economic analysis that the CETI provided for the Washington 2021 State Energy Strategy found that Washington’s rural communities were substantially energy burdened and are often faced with economic disparities and a lack of infrastructure investment. The Community-Defined Decarbonization report aimed to 1) understand the barriers to decarbonizing buildings encountered by the state’s rural low-income, energy-burdened households, and 2) determine whether decarbonization strategies and clean energy development could help to address energy inequities in rural communities.

These maps explore the community-level relationship between poverty level, manufactured homes, and energy burden; access to internet and personal vehicles; and income eligibility for the Weatherization Assistance Program and Inflation Reduction Act rebates.