In China, residents shiver as government shutters power plants to save energy
Nevermind the frigid temperatures, residents in China are told. The effort to build cleaner power plants is for the greater good, so interim shivering is just part of the deal.
A man rides his bicycle past the chimneys of a power station located on the outskirts of Beijing on Oct. 29, 2009.
David Gray/Reuters/File
Beijing
It鈥檚 a lot easier to run a city when you don鈥檛 have to worry about being re-elected.
That鈥檚 what the mayor of Linzhou, a small, nondescript city in the central province of Henan has found. As temperatures plunge below zero, he has turned Linzhou鈥檚 residential heating system off so as to obey a diktat from Beijing. All that the city鈥檚 million or so citizens can do is shiver or go out and buy electric space heaters, and ponder the particular way in which this country is governed.
It鈥檚 all for a good cause, claims Liang Dawei, head of the local Communist party committee鈥檚 propaganda department. The power plant that has always provided steam to the local heating company 鈥渉as been shut down for energy saving purposes,鈥� he explains.
Last year, the central government in Beijing ordered the closure of hundreds of small, inefficient coal-fired power stations across the country in a bid to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Linzhou鈥檚 was among them.
The local government is building a more modern and energy-efficient plant, says Mr. Liang, but it is not yet functional. 鈥淚 cannot say when it will start to operate,鈥� he acknowledges.
Space heaters vs. below-freezing temperatures
In the meantime, Linzhou鈥檚 citizens make do as best they can.
鈥淚 use an electric heater at home,鈥� says Ms. Wen, a local resident contacted by telephone. 鈥淭he electricity is expensive, but I haven鈥檛 worked out how much this will cost me. The government has not said when there will be heat again.鈥�
The fact that this is the coldest time of the year in Linzhou, with temperatures hovering around -5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit), does not appear to concern the city fathers unduly. An order came from above, and regardless of its effect on ordinary people, it must be carried out.
Shutting down the power plant was 鈥渁 task that had to be accomplished and should not be delayed because of the heating supply,鈥� a reporter from the Beijing News said he was told by a local official.
Linzhou鈥檚 officials can report a task accomplished to their superiors, but it is unclear whether their action has in fact reduced greenhouse-gas emissions. With everyone using electric heaters or turning their air conditioners to 鈥渨arm,鈥� the city鈥檚 electricity consumption has gone up.
And where does its electricity come from? Coal-fired power stations elsewhere on the national grid, all of them emitting away even more than ever.