CD Voice | Heating system, between too hot and too old

Heading into my first winter in Beijing, I have been preparing, both state of mind and my wardrobe, for the freezing months ahead. A hefty coat was top of my shopping list when I arrived, I stocked up on cold and flu tablets and various iterations of "places to go in Beijing winter" ranked among my top internet searches.

I'm not entirely a newcomer to cold weather. I've just survived my sixth winter in the southern-most state of Australia, where winds feel like they come directly from Antarctica and puffer jackets are just as common as they are on Beijing streets. While the temperatures there don't plunge as deep into negative territory as here in Beijing, those years have developed some strong cold-fighting skills.

But one thing I wasn't prepared for was to feel too hot.

As temperatures cool outside, Beijing's coal and gas plants are pumping heat into the city's apartment blocks. The government-controlled centralized heating system is an impressive system, unlike anything in Australia where many houses in the coldest states are ill-equipped for the climate.

But it seems to have gone too far.

November 15 was the official start date, but in at least some parts of the city, the switch was flicked a week and a half early.

Since then, residents have been getting around in shorts and T-shirts and sweltering through the night as though on holiday on a tropical island. Only the grey skies outside provide a clue as to the real temperature.

I'm not the only one in my block to contemplate putting the air conditioner on this past week to counteract some of the excessive heat radiating from the pipes in every room. What an exceptional waste of energy that would be.

Opening a window would be the natural solution, if it wasn't for the smog made worse by the coal burning process to make the heat in the first place.

With efforts being made to curb emissions, perhaps this is an opportunity. Take the setting down a notch from "sweating it out in a sauna" to "need a jumper, but not a coat".

That would make it a little easier to get a comfortable night's sleep and hopefully breath a little easier outside too.

It also does not seem necessary to run 24 hours a day. Why not consider turning it off for at least a few hours overnight when most people are tucked up in their doonas anyway? Or give people the option to turn it off while they're at work rather than continue to have warmth pouring into empty rooms.

Don't get me wrong, centralized heating is a luxury that is greatly appreciated, particularly when you consider those without must endure icy conditions inside as well as out. But there must be an in-between level that can be found between too cold and too hot.

About the author & broadcaster

Rose Bolger joined China Daily at the start of November 2016 as a copy editor at the website. Having left her home in the small Australian city, Hobart, to move to one of the biggest cities in the world, she's looking forward to exploring Beijing. During her 10-year career as a journalist she has worked for newspapers, radio and television networks.

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