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I was in Beijing for Chinese New Year for a couple weeks in 2009, and when I flew in, I couldn't see the enormous city at all from the sky. It was completely hi

by dmor 14y ago

I was in Beijing for Chinese New Year for a couple weeks in 2009, and when I flew in, I couldn't see the enormous city at all from the sky. It was completely hidden in a cloud of smog. There was some of the worst air quality of the year at that time from all the fireworks plus being the coldest time of year (so everyone is burning coal fires), and a ton of debris in the air from a 44 floor skyscraper that burned to the ground down the street (video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hSPFL2Zlpg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hSPFL2Zlpg) I never really knew what coal burning smelled like before. Even in the city it isn't allowed, but once we left and went to a smaller town outside Beijing that's when I really got it. It is the heat source for 99% of the population, plus it powers most of the factories. There were days where we were told we shouldn't be outside unless absolutely necessary (which was, since my husband had to commute to his job at Microsoft). At night if you blew your nose your tissue would be grey. If you took a shower, the water would run grey from dust wherever your skin had been exposed. Your clothes would be dusted in a thin layer of gray that never really went away. We tried to combat this by changing out of our clothes just inside the front door and putting them straight into the wash, but it never really went away.

FrojoS 14y ago
I grew up in a household with harsh winters and coal as the only heating source. As such I can state, that coal is a pretty inconvenient heat source. You have to carrie all the coal you burn from the basement, it requires time to start up, needs permanent oversight and it's almost impossible to adjust the heat to the exact level you want. So my hope is that, as China becomes wealthier, they will abolish coal as a heating source, just for convenience.
- ChrisClark 14y ago
  It's a little more convenient in at least most of the cities in China. There are coal burning plants every so often in the city, they heat up the water and pipe it through to the nearby apartment buildings. So the average citizen doesn't have to handle the coal. Of course, this means you don't get to control your heat, and it never heats up that much, just keeps you from freezing. And if winter comes early, you still have to wait for November 15 for when the heat gets turned on.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    I live in a newish apartment building with good insulation. I always have to open a window because it gets so hot (after the turn on date of course, which was early this year). Think of the poor college students in southern china who don't have heat at all in their dorms (the government, in their wisdom, said heat isn't needed south of the Yangtze). Every year more than a few of them die in fires using some haphazard electrical device to try and stay warm.
  - jfoutz 14y ago
    NYC is about as first world as it gets, and they still use the steam system from the 1800's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system
    - staticfish 14y ago
      I'm sorry, but NYC isn't about as "first world is it gets". From the power, to the plumbing, to the buildings and sewers, and even city-scaping, it's decidedly antiquated compared to many Western Eurpean and Asian countries.
  - guard-of-terra 14y ago
    Why doesn't it heats up much? Is this specific to China? I live in Russia, we have the same system (coal and gas plants generating not only electricity but heat for homes) and this system is perfectly capable of delivering +28C inside when it's -30C outside. It varies from house to house, but "keeps you from freezing" is not the default.
    - dmor 14y ago
      My guess, from the houses I went into, is their construction. I have to emphasize these are not houses like any first-world person would think of, as soon as you leave the big city there is very little that is modern about China - they're hapharzardly made with found objects, mud that has been packed and dried, thick layers of grasses woven and turned into sheets of ceiling tiles. Everything is handmade, and I have to imagine they are constantly searching for sources of heat loss and patching them. A lot of people also were burning dried animal waste, which was the worst smelling thing I can imagine enduring 24/7. I would be willing to bet if you are really poor you are also getting third rate coal, with lots of fillers that reduce its caloric output of heat (and it is cheaper).
ableal 14y ago
I saw the pictures taken in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, where they had to have street lights on at noon in winter. I also saw the soot-incrusted facade of the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library before it was sandblasted clean in the late 1980s. (By then, the steel mills, and the respective steel-worker housing, were a heartbreaking ghost town for miles along the Monongahela river.) There are also the stories of the London "fogs" (really bad smogs) in the late 1800s. Coal is better than no power, but it has nasty consequences. Getting past it is tough, and it takes time and investment.
- dredmorbius 14y ago
  London fogs continued into the 1950s, notably the "Great Smog" of 1952, which was ultimately thought to have killed some 12,000, and sickened 100,000 more. Visibility was a poor as 1 meter, or worse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog

by dmor 14y ago

FrojoS 14y ago

I grew up in a household with harsh winters and coal as the only heating source. As such I can state, that coal is a pretty inconvenient heat source. You have to carrie all the coal you burn from the basement, it requires time to start up, needs permanent oversight and it's almost impossible to adjust the heat to the exact level you want. So my hope is that, as China becomes wealthier, they will abolish coal as a heating source, just for convenience.

ChrisClark 14y ago
It's a little more convenient in at least most of the cities in China. There are coal burning plants every so often in the city, they heat up the water and pipe it through to the nearby apartment buildings. So the average citizen doesn't have to handle the coal. Of course, this means you don't get to control your heat, and it never heats up that much, just keeps you from freezing. And if winter comes early, you still have to wait for November 15 for when the heat gets turned on.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  I live in a newish apartment building with good insulation. I always have to open a window because it gets so hot (after the turn on date of course, which was early this year). Think of the poor college students in southern china who don't have heat at all in their dorms (the government, in their wisdom, said heat isn't needed south of the Yangtze). Every year more than a few of them die in fires using some haphazard electrical device to try and stay warm.
- jfoutz 14y ago
  NYC is about as first world as it gets, and they still use the steam system from the 1800's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_steam_system
  - staticfish 14y ago
    I'm sorry, but NYC isn't about as "first world is it gets". From the power, to the plumbing, to the buildings and sewers, and even city-scaping, it's decidedly antiquated compared to many Western Eurpean and Asian countries.
- guard-of-terra 14y ago
  Why doesn't it heats up much? Is this specific to China? I live in Russia, we have the same system (coal and gas plants generating not only electricity but heat for homes) and this system is perfectly capable of delivering +28C inside when it's -30C outside. It varies from house to house, but "keeps you from freezing" is not the default.
  - dmor 14y ago
    My guess, from the houses I went into, is their construction. I have to emphasize these are not houses like any first-world person would think of, as soon as you leave the big city there is very little that is modern about China - they're hapharzardly made with found objects, mud that has been packed and dried, thick layers of grasses woven and turned into sheets of ceiling tiles. Everything is handmade, and I have to imagine they are constantly searching for sources of heat loss and patching them. A lot of people also were burning dried animal waste, which was the worst smelling thing I can imagine enduring 24/7. I would be willing to bet if you are really poor you are also getting third rate coal, with lots of fillers that reduce its caloric output of heat (and it is cheaper).

ableal 14y ago

I saw the pictures taken in Pittsburgh in the 1950s, where they had to have street lights on at noon in winter. I also saw the soot-incrusted facade of the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library before it was sandblasted clean in the late 1980s. (By then, the steel mills, and the respective steel-worker housing, were a heartbreaking ghost town for miles along the Monongahela river.) There are also the stories of the London "fogs" (really bad smogs) in the late 1800s. Coal is better than no power, but it has nasty consequences. Getting past it is tough, and it takes time and investment.

dredmorbius 14y ago
London fogs continued into the 1950s, notably the "Great Smog" of 1952, which was ultimately thought to have killed some 12,000, and sickened 100,000 more. Visibility was a poor as 1 meter, or worse. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog