China unleashes energy cops to enforce air-con rules

BEIJING, June 11 (Reuters) China's capital has unleashed ''energy cops'' to enforce limits on air-conditioner use as the government pushes to save power and clean grimy skies, state media reported today.

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 ''energy-saving police'' -- 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.

Citizens can also complain about buildings that fail to observe the rule on a special phone line, the paper said.

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

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.

''There can be absolutely no slackening,'' warned a commentary in the People Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.

''Avoid scoffing down a resource banquet that will leave a debt of 1,000 years for future generations.'' The government said last week that energy efficiency and pollutant cuts would figure in assessing officials for possible promotion. The five-year plan also calls for reducing major pollutants by 10 per cent.

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

''All regions and sectors must thoroughly grasp the importance and urgency of saving energy and reducing emissions,'' said the People Daily.

The paper warned that high-energy industries continued to expand too fast in the first quarter of this year.

''If we don't accelerate structural adjustment, contain this trend, and transform the crude high-energy, heavy-pollution development model... it may mean resources cannot be shored up, the environment cannot cope and society will find it intolerable.'' Last week, China launched a plan to cope with global warming.

Chinese President Hu Jintao and other officials have said the country would 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.

On Monday, the China Youth Daily reported a survey of 4,834 citizens that found 84.6 per cent considered global warming an urgent world issue. The report did not say how the survey was conducted.

Reuters SKB DB0927