A highly centralized heating system requires a huge investment, consumes huge amounts of energy and generates a large amount of waste, said Jiang Yi, director of the Center for Energy Saving Studies at Tsinghua University. In this model, about a third of the heat is wasted during the transmission process in the pipes.
In Beijing, heating is provided for about four and a half months, and the heating plant can use the rest of the year to check heating installations and repair pipes, he said.
However, the shorter period of cold weather in the Yangtze River Delta region and the southern areas will mean the heating plants spend a longer time lying idle, and could lead to a high depreciation rate of installation, he added.
Also, people in southern China like to open windows in the winter. If the heating system is applied and residents keep this habit, the energy consumption will be massive, he said.
Coal provides the bulk of the energy in the north, but natural gas is more popular in southern areas. A sharp rise in the use of the fuel because of heating demands will result in a major increase on the price of liquefied natural gas on international markets, analysts said.
If authorities develop a natural gas-powered central heating system in the south, China will see a jump in demand for LNG and push up the demand from Asia, said Wu Libo, executive director of Fudan University's Center for Energy Economics and Strategies Studies.
"There would be a head-on competition for more imports and pricing power with countries like Japan and South Korea," she said.
It's estimated China needs to import 49.9 billion cubic meters of gas in 2013. The world's top LNG importer, Japan, whose nuclear industry has been crippled since the 2011 Fukushima incident, will need 72 billion cubic meters in 2013, Goldman Sachs forecast.
"If there is a rapid increase of demand for LNG from China, a great leap of the fuel's price on international markets is expected," Wu added.
Experts have also called for more allowances from governments to develop renewable energy-backed heating methods.
Some areas in the south have developed community-based heating systems. One of them, Anting new township in suburban Shanghai's Jiading district, offers a peek into the pros and cons of the services fueled with natural gas.
It is one of a handful of communities in Shanghai with in-built heating, which it has had since 2006.
When the wind was howling outside in mid-January, residents remained comfortable in 24 C rooms.
People on way home during Spring Festival travel rush
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