Air-con limits for China workers

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Workers in Chinese government offices are going to be made to sweat this summer.

The government has decreed that they cannot use air conditioning to take the temperature below 26C (78.8F), the official Xinhua news agency reports.

Until recently, the Chinese solution to providing energy in buildings was simply to build more power stations.

Now they are building two a week and still cannot satisfy demand, so they are focusing on saving energy, too.

Ambitious target

Ministers want to cut energy use by 20% for every dollar earned in the economy.

That is an ambitious aim, and they are lagging way behind on their target, with particular problems in transport, construction and government buildings.

The new draft law mandates standards for new buildings almost up to European levels.

Decorative lighting for buildings will be restricted, and air-conditioning will be strictly limited in public buildings.

Cleaner cars will be developed, too.

Critics of China's booming pollution will welcome the initiative.

But they also question whether the government will be able to force regional party bosses to implement the energy savings, when they are so fixated on economic growth.