The country's leaders demonstrated their commitment to energy
conservation on Monday by attending a conference in Beijing dressed
only in their shirt-sleeves.
Broadcast on national prime time news, the meeting, chaired by
President Hu Jintao, featured a host of high-profile
figures, almost all of whom were wearing light-colored shirts.
"The scene was a sharp contrast to previous meetings, which
invariably featured a sea of formal black suits," Huang Wenqing
from Beijing, said.
The move followed a call made earlier this month by members of
the State Council for office workers to dress casually in a bid to
save electricity.
The call followed a cabinet order that the temperature of
China's public buildings must not rise above 26 C in summer.
The order to cut energy use applies to schools, office
buildings, supermarkets, restaurants, shopping malls, government
agencies and private owners of public buildings.
Fan Xuecheng, a cabinet official in charge of supervising energy
conservation in government bureaux, said air conditioners account
for about 30 to 50 percent of the total power consumption of office
buildings in summer.
"So there remains the huge task of controlling energy use in the
summer," Fan said.
At least 300 million kWh of electricity and 150 million yuan
(US$19.7 million) would be saved if air conditioners in Beijing's
public buildings were set to 26 C, the People's Daily
Online said.
(China Daily June 27, 2007)
