DM Monitoring
TAIYUAN: In less than a week, the city of Linfen in north China’s Shanxi Province will begin its heating season. And this year, it will no longer be ranked as the city with the worst air quality in China.
“As we are connected to the city’s heating network, we no longer worry about walls tainted by coal smoke,” said Guo Hongxia, a resident of Donggaohe Village in the city’s Yaodu District. Three years ago, the area relied on the old heating method — burning coal in each household or small factories for heating, which is much dirtier than in thermal plants.
“I used to be frozen in the middle of the night because wood and logs needed to be added constantly to keep the coal burning,” said Chen Baofeng, who lives deep in the Lyuliang Mountains in Zhaizeshan Village in Qikou Township, Linxian County. But that kind of labor is over as the country is embracing clean heating.
As electric heating takes hold, “blue sky days” are on the rise in coal-rich Shanxi.
The greener heating method saves both money and manpower, and homes stay at near-constant temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius, according to Chen. And there is no need to fear dangers such as fire or carbon monoxide poisoning.
“Clean heating gives our environment a facelift and cuts almost half of the heating costs, and is welcomed by the residents,” said Li Jinfeng, Party secretary of Qikou Township.
From 2017 to 2019, more than 3.57 million households in Shanxi were refitted with clean heating systems, saving nearly 14 million tonnes of coal.
