In attempt to promote a new initiative to cut energy consumption, government officials gave up air-conditioning for a day. Beijing also sent out a team of “energy police” to patrol public buildings to enforce the new rule that air-conditioning can be set no cooler than 79 degrees in attempts to cut energy consumption by 20% before 2010. From China Daily:
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 on Wednesday.
Tuesday’s campaign, dubbed “experiencing energy shortage”, targeted offices and government departments under the State Council, the nation’s cabinet.[Full text]
See also Beijing Deploys Energy Police from Earthtimes.org and a previous previous CDT post on China’s increasing energy consumption.
