(Photo: CGTN)

Datong, one of the coal capitals located in northern China, has launched a complete ban on coal use in its urban area starting from the end of October, in an attempt to further improve the air quality in the region. 

As temperatures gradually drop in northern China, people here are starting to receive heat, but in a different way, this winter.

Yao Jinlian and her family are among them. They have been living in a one-story house for decades, but her home is among the 4,000 households that will soon be demolished due to city construction. There's still some time before they have to move.

To keep warm as winter approaches, people have bought electric heaters, as burning coal is no longer allowed.

Yao Jinlian pointed to her heater. "I use this electric heating fan for the winter. I think it's good. The local government doesn't allow us to use coal so I bought this. It's very clean."

The no-coal zone, initiated by the local government this winter, covers an area of just over 100 square kilometers. Storage, sale and the usage of coal are all banned here. Only power plants and other coal-consuming factories are able to burn coal.

Zhang Hai, chief engineer of Datong Environment Protection Bureau, explained, "Our no-coal zone mainly relies on communal heating systems this winter. Those who are not within the system are those households that will soon be demolished. For now, we encourage them to use clean energy for their heating supply."

In fact, Datong started to limit coal usage in urban areas many years ago. Nearly a thousand coal boilers were torn down over the past five years. More areas have been included in the communal heating system, which now covers nearly all of the no-coal zone.

Although power plants still use coal to generate heat for the communal heating systems, they have achieved ultra-low emissions by using new technologies.

Zhang Hai said Datong's air quality has improved a lot over the past few years thanks to limits on coal usage. "The average daily PM2.5 concentration here from January to October was 33 micrograms per cubic meter while the number last year was 35. We've made progress and it is a good result," he said.

In the no-coal zone, some factories also replaced their coal boilers with gas burners. But even with government subsidies, they're not happy about the high cost of gas.

Lyu Lianxi is the head of Shanxi Donghua Machinery and Electronics, an old state-owned company. "Our business is not so good. It's difficult for us to afford an extra 2 million yuan in gas costs every year," he complained.

This company is not the only one who frowns upon the high cost of gas. Some rural residents living alongside the no-coal zone are also concerned. Many of them have replaced their coal boilers with gas burners, a requirement by the local government.

A local villager named Hu Jiang complained, "It's too expensive, we can't afford gas burners with our low income." And he also worries about a shortage of gas, which occurred last year.

Local officials say they will expand the no-coal zone in the future for better air quality. But these complaints obviously have added difficulty to that. Experts say balancing the benefits of environmental protection with a fair and reasonably-priced source of heating options remains a challenge that the government has to face.