Central heating wasteful

By Katherine Danks (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-19 10:20

In a city that is continually reminding its residents to conserve energy, I am amazed that many Beijingers cannot adjust the heating temperature in their apartments.

The Beijing municipal government has ruled that all rooms in the city must be heated to a minimum 16 C during the heating season, and that this temperature will increase to 18 C next year, regardless of the temperature outside.

However, there have been several days of warm weather since November 1, when the heating supply was switched on.

Some Beijingers have told local media that the only way they can escape the unbearable heat is to open the windows and balcony doors because they have no control over the indoor heating.

It appears to me to be a senseless waste of energy, money, and an additional burden on the environment.

At work, we are continually reminded to conserve energy by switching off computers and to turn off the lights if the room is not being used, so why doesn't this also apply to the heating supply?

Surely it makes sense to give tenants the ability to turn down the temperature if they consider it too hot, or to switch it off entirely if they are not using the property in winter.

In newer apartments, residents can adjust the temperature and switch it off entirely if they go out for the day or away on vacation.

A colleague told me that heaters in her apartment have a switch with settings from 1-5 to adjust the temperature in each room. However, many residents in older-style apartments do not have this luxury.

The Beijing government on Saturday finished a seven-year project in which it enabled all houses within the Second Ring Road to replace coal-fired heaters with electricity or gas heating.

It has modified the power grid and is encouraging residents to make the switch through subsidies on the cost of electricity, largely because of the pollution caused by coal heaters.

Meanwhile, officials have shown that they are serious about over-heated buildings, and have stepped up supervision of shopping malls and office buildings where the temperature is several degrees above standard.

It is a good policy, but any thorough reform of the city's heating system must include a technology that allows all residents to control the temperature in their apartments, even if the maximum is capped.

This week, the government indicated that it wants the flexibility to extend the heating season, currently fixed at Nov 15 - March 15, in future years. This year, it was brought forward by two weeks this year after the earliest snow in 22 years.