China, which banned the burning of coal for residential heating around Beijing to tackle the problem of air pollution in winter has left many villagers “vulnerable in dangerously cold weather,” a new report has revealed.
According to The New York Times, at first, local governments eased the transition by heavily subsidising natural gas, which is cleaner but more expensive.
However, demand for gas overwhelmed supply, and some subsidies were slow to arrive, as “officials descended upon villagers’ homes to confiscate their coal furnaces and fined or detained violators”.
The relatively high cost of gas heating has led some residents to avoid turning on their heaters even during dangerously cold times.
“Beyond the rising costs, poorer villagers often seem to end up paying more than city residents to heat their homes,” the report noted.
The NYT report from the ground further stated that reports of villagers huddling under multiple blankets or secretly burning firewood for warmth (firewood is banned, too) had circulated widely on Chinese social media platforms.
“They spurred calls, including in major state-run news outlets, to relax the coal ban or restore subsidies. But China’s gains in air quality have been a political priority for the government, and many of the reports were quickly censored,” it added.
Over the long term, the answer is likely to lie less in natural gas and more in renewable energy.
China is already the world’s leading producer of solar and wind power, and as electricity becomes cheaper, electric devices like heat pumps can replace gas boilers and coal furnaces, according to the report, citing local experts.
But installing a heat pump requires a large upfront payment, one that many village households cannot afford, they acknowledged. Installation cost more than $2,800 and the government did not offer any subsidies, the experts added.
