介绍:
LW: Take a look at the aftermath of the red alert smog warning in Beijing. Now I'm looking out of the window in Beijing, it's somewhat clearer, you can see the sky. If you could look out the window, see the blue sky, see some clouds maybe, if you're lucky. Can you maybe just talk a little about the colors warning system.
WY: The red alert for example, the most serious warning on [the] four-tier system, adopted in the year 2013 means the authorities have forecast more than three [consecutive] days of severe smog.
LW: Right, that’s a red alert.
WY: Right, that’s a red alert.
BK: We have red, orange, yellow and blue. And actually, unfortunately, last week we only got an orange alert when the air was six hundred in most of Beijing, going up to maybe even a thousand in one place at one time. So, I’m not sure how they came upon the decision to do it this time but the fact that they are doing it when it seems necessary, is a good step, so good for them.
LW: Yeah, it’s a step in the right direction in many ways. It’s acknowledging the problem, it’s taking steps to address the problem. Wu You, what exactly is the story?
WY: So the red alert, which took effect on Tuesday lead to registrations on car use and also the limited constructions and industrial activities in [the] Chinese capital. And at least two million private cars [have] been taken off the road in Beijing. This time the coal-powered winter heating system are seen as a big cause of the smog, especially in northern part of China around this time of year, and some people are questioning maybe it is not that necessary for some indoor central heat to be so hot, because we can see that in Beijing or in northeast part of China it’s very cold in winter, but the indoor heating system can be above 30 degrees Celsius.
LW: The central heating, the indoor heating, which is given – you know, kind of made the scapegoat for the, a lot of the really bad pollution or smog that we’ve experienced. It, some people are saying it’s a little bit too hot, and this, we’re actually wasting a bit of energy here and maybe we could, energy that could have lowered the pollution somewhat.
WY: Not only this for the heating system, even if in summer, we can always see that inside the shopping malls that I experienced in Hong Kong there can be very strong air conditioning, it can be very cold inside. It doesn’t necessarily need to be that cold.
BK: Right, exactly. And you see this in the United States, too. It’ll be hot outside, maybe pretty humid as well, and it’s unpleasant, and you go inside and, you know, you want it to be not so bad, but you go in, and it’s so cold you actually want to wear a jacket, which is obviously not, not an ideal sort of situation there.
LW: I’m going to go on the record there and say Brian that it is, it is very much too hot in my house. It is very much [BK: Interesting]…I have no way of changing, I have no idea how to change it. Maybe I’ll have to invite Wu You over to show me exactly how to…
BK: Well but is it hot enough to walk around in like shorts and a t-shirt?
LW: It’s hot enough, but at some points in time it actually gets too hot and might have to do with less than that.
BK: Wow. Okay, that, that sounds like one of those episodes of Friends where like the heater has gone wrong or something, and it’s just dangerously hot. It’s not, for most people’s apartments or whatever, they don’t feel too hot, it’s often a little bit cold, so you walk around with, you know, maybe a jacket on as well there.
WY: It is understandable that there initiative is good, but after all we need to adjust it. And also, on December the 2nd, the State Council in China, the Chinese cabinet, has decided to upgrade the coal-burning power plant[s] nation-wide to reduce pollution by sixty percent in the next five years.
LW: Yeah, as we’ve said, these measures are being taken and people are, the authorities have recognized the problem…and that’s something that people have to realize at some point. Definitely something to keep an eye on and let's hope the good weather or at least the pollution stays away until at least the weekend.
