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  PlanetArk 14 Jun 07
China Officials Live Without Air-Cons for a Day

BEIJING - Chinese central government offices suffered a day without air-conditioning as they warmed to a campaign to cut energy consumption and improve energy efficiency, Xinhua news agency said onm Wednesday.

Tuesday's campaign, dubbed "experiencing energy shortage", targeted offices and government departments under the State Council, the nation's cabinet.

"Beijing was not as sun-burning as previous days on Tuesday, but the overcast weather still made people sweat in the afternoon," Xinhua said.

China's capital has unleashed "energy police" to enforce limits on air-conditioner use as the government pushes to save power and clean polluted skies, state media said this week.

China last year vowed to cut energy consumption for every unit of economic activity by 20 percent by the end of 2010.

But feverish economic growth has so far defied the target.

The government's latest weapon is 22 officials who will check whether offices, hotels, malls and other big buildings in Beijing are observing a demand to set air conditioning no cooler than 26 degrees Celsius (79 Fahrenheit), the Beijing News reported.

Worried that the nation cannot sustain resource-sapping growth, the central government has repeatedly ordered officials and companies to save energy.

In a sign of the central leadership's worries, the campaign has taken on the trappings of a mini political campaign, with exhortations and penalties.

Efforts to clear the capital of pollution have taken on a new urgency with the 2008 Beijing Olympics just over a year away.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials have said the country will not accept mandatory caps on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are trapping more heat in the atmosphere.

Instead, Beijing has held up its voluntary energy saving measures as an important contribution to fighting global warming, and called for more technological help for clean energy.
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