Status of Decentralized Civil Heating Technology in China postprint

Abstract: The pollution from bulk coal combustion was thought to be one of the main causes of haze weather in northern China, so governments everywhere tried to promote the search for an alternative to civil bulk coal. Specially, so-called “clean energy” was vigorously promoted and coal-to-electricity or natural gas conversion project was implemented in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area, while burning high-quality anthracite and semicoke was encouraged in the surrounding areas, though giving rise to unsatisfactory influence finally. Several typical decentralized civil heating technologies in China were comparatively analyzed in this article. It is suggested that the coal-to-electricity or natural gas conversion project must be on the premise of rich resources, suitable geographic conditions, and high-level economic development as well as conforming to living habits of the local people, among which the economic affordability is one of the key factors to success. In order to solve the pollution problem of bulk coal combustion in remote low-income rural areas thoroughly, a long-term plan should be made to realize clean heating by burning bituminous briquette in environment-friendly domestic furnaces such as decoupling combustion stoves.