House insulation a major success
Source: Xinhua |
October 25, 2010, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE heating supply in Changchun, capital of Jilin Province, will not come on until Thursday, but the outdoor temperature has already dropped to below zero at night.
The temperature inside Li Guiling's house was 14 degrees Celsius on Friday, warmer than before a government-funded renovation on the building was done.
"The indoor temperature would rarely reach 16 degrees Celsius in the past, even when the heating was on," she said.
Millions of other Chinese living in communities where houses were built before the 1990s still suffer through the cold winters as their houses are not well insulated.
Zhang Wenhai, an energy efficiency expert with the Jilin Provincial Society of Earthwork Construction, said 40 billion square meters of buildings need to be renovated to save energy and make homes warmer.
The Chinese government introduced a program in 2006 which aims to renovate 150 million square meters of buildings in north China by the end of this year.
As a result of the program, Li's house was renovated this year. "A six-centimeter thick wall board was fixed to the outside walls of the building, and workers also replaced aluminum alloy windows with plastic steel windows for us," she said.
Gong Wenyi, general manager of Jilin Tongxin Heating Group, said 60 percent of buildings in the province still needed such renovations to improve energy efficiency.
"Renovations of the aged buildings can contribute a lot to energy saving and emission reductions," he said.
In Harbin, capital of northeast Heilongjiang Province, the energy efficiency renovations on 20 downtown apartment blocks have - aside from saving energy - given the city a facelift.
"The concrete-covered building walls have been turned into European-style white and pink ones with spires at the top. It is very beautiful," said Li San, a local fruit peddler.
Making people pay for their heating costs on a metered basis is another way China is increasing energy efficiency. This is a radical change for China as it has only been since 2004 that people have had to pay for their heating - before that the government totally subsidized the cost.
The temperature inside Li Guiling's house was 14 degrees Celsius on Friday, warmer than before a government-funded renovation on the building was done.
"The indoor temperature would rarely reach 16 degrees Celsius in the past, even when the heating was on," she said.
Millions of other Chinese living in communities where houses were built before the 1990s still suffer through the cold winters as their houses are not well insulated.
Zhang Wenhai, an energy efficiency expert with the Jilin Provincial Society of Earthwork Construction, said 40 billion square meters of buildings need to be renovated to save energy and make homes warmer.
The Chinese government introduced a program in 2006 which aims to renovate 150 million square meters of buildings in north China by the end of this year.
As a result of the program, Li's house was renovated this year. "A six-centimeter thick wall board was fixed to the outside walls of the building, and workers also replaced aluminum alloy windows with plastic steel windows for us," she said.
Gong Wenyi, general manager of Jilin Tongxin Heating Group, said 60 percent of buildings in the province still needed such renovations to improve energy efficiency.
"Renovations of the aged buildings can contribute a lot to energy saving and emission reductions," he said.
In Harbin, capital of northeast Heilongjiang Province, the energy efficiency renovations on 20 downtown apartment blocks have - aside from saving energy - given the city a facelift.
"The concrete-covered building walls have been turned into European-style white and pink ones with spires at the top. It is very beautiful," said Li San, a local fruit peddler.
Making people pay for their heating costs on a metered basis is another way China is increasing energy efficiency. This is a radical change for China as it has only been since 2004 that people have had to pay for their heating - before that the government totally subsidized the cost.
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