"Residents have repeatedly complained that the heating was not enough to keep their houses warm," he said.

He said so far the renovations were effective. In a pilot program completed last year, the indoor temperature rose from 16 degrees Celsius to 20 degrees on average.

"Such renovations of the aged buildings can contribute a lot to energy saving and emission reductions," he said.

In Harbin, capital of northeast Heilongjiang Province, the energy efficiency renovations on 20 downtown apartment blocks has -- aside from saving energy -- given the city a facelift.

"The concrete-covered building walls have been turned into European-style white and pink ones with spires at the top. It is very beautiful," said Li San, a local fruit peddler.

Making people pay for their heating costs on a metered basis is another way China is increasing energy efficiency. This is a radical change for China as only since 2004 have people had to pay for their heating, before that the government totally subsidized the cost.

From 2006, residents in several big cities must pay to keep their homes warm on a metered basis. However, still most people in China are charged for their heating based on floor space, not energy consumption.

This may change in the future as charging for heating according to usage is proving a good way of cutting energy consumption.

In Taiyuan, capital of north China's coal-rich Shanxi Province, 80 households in a community for hospital workers tested the metered-based heating system last year. Each household spent 25 percent less on heating than they did before.

"We can turn off the heating, when nobody is at home. The newly-installed heating control also enables us to control the temperature in different rooms," said Dong Yali, one of the residents.

The city government has aimed to extend the reform to the whole city by 2011.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2010)