As the region 1 and 3 of an electric heating program was put into service in Maduo County of northwest China's Qinghai Province on Jan. 22rd, China's first clean heating program in high-altitude and freezing area has been in full operation.

Maduo County is part of the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province, a core region of the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve, and the source of the Yellow River. The county has an average altitude of over 4,500 meters, its annual average temperature is at four degrees Celsius below zero, and requires heating 11 months of the year.

Li Zhong, chief of the publicity department of the county, said, "after the program is fully operational, it would meet the heating needs of the almost five thousand residents of Maduo County. The new program replaces the 20,712 tons of coal we used to need, reduces carbon dust by 14,084 tons, carbon dioxide by 51,635 tons, sulfur dioxide by 1,554 tons, and nitrogen oxide by 715 tons."

"Maduo County's new clean heating program is a good example of the clean heating initiative in the Sanjiangyuan region," said Pang Guangming, the vice general manager of Golog Power Company of the National Grid.

He added, this program not only effectively protects the beauty of the Sanjiangyuan region, it helps to improve the infrastructure of Golog Prefecture and the quality of people's lives.

According to Peng Chen, the associate chief of the ecological protection department of the Sanjiangyuan National Park Administration, this program not only improved the lives of herders in the Sanjiangyuan region, it also greatly reduced the region's carbon emissions.

Editor:Tommy Tan.