In China, to prevent the energy bill from being too high, the authorities themselves decide on the dates when the heating can be switched on. State corporations also set the permitted temperature. Finland, for its part, wishes to give more prominence to offshore geothermal energy.
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If China succeeds in controlling its energy bill, it is with a very specific device. The Chinese authorities have been planning the organization of heating since the 1950s. In concrete terms, each year by decree and unilaterally they set the heating periods between mid-November and mid-March. Depending on the outside temperature, a specific date is chosen. In Beijing, some 3,500 collective boilers in the city center were put into operation on Sunday 13 November. In Xi’an in central China it will be Tuesday. An operation concerning only the very large part of the urban population living in huge residences with collective heating.
The authorities do not only decide on the heating periods, the state companies also impose the level of temperatures. In Beijing, in the apartments this year it will be 18 degrees. In the capital, 140 telephone operators are mobilized to receive calls and complaints from residents.
To limit its dependence on fossil fuels, Finland, for its part, relies on the icy waters of the Baltic Sea. A large-scale project will begin in Helsinki to heat the inhabitants of the capital. It’s about building a big heat pump. Thanks to the fairly classic process of steam compression to heat cold water from the depths of the Baltic up to 90 degrees, replacing the halocarbons generally used in our fridges with ammonia, which is not a greenhouse gas. This project should make it possible in seven years to cover 40% of the heating needs of the Finnish capital.