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Get rid of coal dirt

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-08-23 09:17

It is not easy for an energy-rich province to feel the pinch of energy crisis, but it is of much significance for such a place to exercise frugality and cultivate such awareness.

North China's Shanxi, the country's largest coal producer, is such a place.

The provincial government announced on Wednesday the designation of every first Friday in June and September as the days for people all over the province to feel the pain of energy crisis. On both days, all government buildings lower than five stories will switch off their elevators, part of the elevators in higher government office buildings will also be suspended and all government employees including ranking officials must take public transport or cycle to work.

In addition, temperatures in government offices regulated by air-conditioners will be restricted to reasonable degrees and public vehicles used by public institutions and governments will be used only four days a week.

These moves adopted first by governments will help initiate an energy-saving campaign all over the province to let every citizen realize the importance of saving every lump of coal or every drop of oil.

The province, as the country's largest coal producer, has been visualized by outsiders as a place with everything as black as coal - its people's face covered with coal dust and its road crusted with a thick layer of accumulated coal powder. It was rumored that a handful of black dirt scraped from the road can be fuel for cooking.

When such a perception was taken years ago as the sign of the province's pride by many locals, from the higher authorities to the general public, the lack of attention to efficient use of coal and scientific exploration of this form of energy is of major consequences today.

High intensity and low efficiency in energy consumption and fragile environmental capacity because of over-mining or unscientific mining of coal characterize the energy situation in the province, according to a high-ranking local official.

Pollution is the most direct consequence. The world's most polluted cities are in this province. And pollution has become a big hurdle to cross for the prosperity of tourism, despite the province having many sites of historical interest.

Over-mining or unscientific mining has also destroyed the ecological balance in many places, and some have been damaged to such a degree as to make them unsuitable for residents to stay.

The energy-saving campaign, as a further step in its previous efforts to mend its environment and clear up its polluted air, is expected to further drive home among the general public the awareness that raising energy consumption efficiency by every one in the province is the only way out for the energy-producing province to change its image as a polluting and polluted locality.