(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-10-31 20:53

The new service could slash energy consumption for heating in Beijing by five percent each year, which amounted to about 100 million yuan annually on estimates of Beijing's yearly spending of two billion yuan ($267.7 million) on heating, said Ding.

He said services, including the heating index and temperature forecasts within one to three days, would be immediately available for staff at the Beijing District Heating Group, which provided heating for one third of the city, and enterprises and communities that provide regional services.

Individuals could tune their own heaters at home according to a heating index published in the media, which would range from the minimum level to the highest fifth grade based on factors such as the temperature, sunlight, wind speeds and humidity.

Some Beijing residents in new residential areas are not provided with public heating system, but with household heaters, and they can easily tune the heating temperatures freely at home.

The reduced energy consumption would also mean a "bluer" sky for Beijing during the winter, as many city boilers are coal fired, which causes heavy pollution with sulfur dioxide emissions.

Beijing has been replacing coal-fired boilers to lessen pollution and aims to have more than 40 percent of the area provided with natural gas by the end of this year, and 50 percent by 2010.

The capital has come up with a series of campaigns to improve the air quality since the beginning of this year for the 2008 Olympic Games.

From August 17 to 20, about 1.3 million cars were banned from the city roads each day to test the effect on air quality for the Olympic Games.

The municipal government cut metro ticket prices by more than 30 percent, and offered discounts up to 60 percent on bus tickets earlier this year, to encourage public transport use.

Beijing Shougang Group, China's leading steel manufacturer, has pledged an output reduction of more than 70 percent from July to September next year to ensure the Olympics can enjoy better air quality.

The municipal meteorological bureau has also beefed up its efforts this year to ensure more accurate weather forecasts during the Games.

China has successfully launched its second professional geostationary orbit meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2D (FY-2D), on December 8 last year to provide better weather forecast services for the Games.

 

 

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