In the heart of summer this July, the fields of Dehui in Jilin are lush and green, as a comprehensive "solar+" clean heating renovation project for 15,000 rural households gets fully underway.

Solar thermal collector tubes are being simultaneously installed on the rooftops of farmhouses across townships, with the hum of construction machinery blending with the cheerful chatter of villagers, painting a new picture of green heating for the cold northern countryside.

The entire project is slated for completion by October 31st, ensuring it is operational before the winter freeze sets in.

This renovation will completely replace traditional, decentralized coal and straw-burning heating methods in rural areas, phasing out high-pollution, low-efficiency old heating systems to improve the rural living environment at its source.

Ni Guitian, a resident of Songbai Village's Second Community in Dehui's Huifa Subdistrict, is among the first beneficiaries.

She stood at her courtyard gate, watching workers hoist the new heating equipment, filled with anticipation.

"In previous years, by late July, we'd be busy stockpiling straw and buying loose coal, worrying about heating fuel all autumn," said Ni Guitian, highlighting the long-standing heating challenges for farmers in cold regions.

"In the past, winters relied entirely on the heated brick bed. The part near the firebox would be scalding hot, while the far end was icy cold. We'd have to get up at two or three in the morning to add firewood or coal, and coal dust would blacken the furniture and windows all year round."

Fellow villager Sun Yanjun also came to watch the construction work.

Speaking about the new heating system, what he values most is cleanliness and convenience: "We won't have to clean out the stove ashes every day, and the house won't be filled with coal dust anymore. It will be much more comfortable to live in."

According to on-site construction personnel, the installation and commissioning of equipment for the entire village will be finished by the end of October.

After the renovation, households will no longer need to stockpile fuel or clean out furnace slag; they will be able to maintain constant indoor temperatures through the rooftop solar installations.

Heating during severe winter cold has long been a prominent issue affecting people's livelihoods in Northeast China's rural areas.

In the past, relying solely on the heated brick bed meant that side rooms and main halls were damp and chilly.

During extended periods of overcast weather or snowfall, indoor temperatures would plummet, forcing the elderly and children to huddle in thick clothes on the bed.

Previously, many clean heating solutions were either prone to failure in low temperatures or had prohibitively high electricity costs, making widespread adoption in northern villages difficult.

Earlier, a pilot project involving 270 households in Xinhu Town, Changchun's Jingyue High-tech Zone, tested this extreme-cold-adapted solar thermal storage system, verifying its ability to withstand temperatures as low as minus 25 degrees Celsius.

The R&D team spent three years tackling two major challenges of traditional solar heating: pipe freezing and insufficient heat supply in low temperatures.

Paired with auxiliary heating using off-peak nighttime electricity, indoor temperatures can remain stable above 18 degrees Celsius even during several consecutive sunless days.

The equipment is compatible with existing rural power grids, significantly lowering the barrier to entry for farmers.

A resident from the Jingyue pilot project, Ms. Li, calculated the economic benefits: after the renovation, she no longer burns coal during the heating season, with annual electricity costs totaling just over 800 yuan, while maintaining a stable indoor temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.

"Before, buying coal and preparing firewood for a whole winter cost nearly 2,000 yuan, and the house was filled with choking smoke and dust. Now it's clean and tidy, we don't have to get up in the middle of the night to stoke the fire, and the elderly and children are much more comfortable through the winter."

The environmental benefits are also significant.

Calculations show that a single household system can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5.4 tons annually.

The 270-household pilot project reduces carbon emissions by approximately 1,500 tons per year.

Once all 15,000 households in Dehui are operational, annual carbon reduction is projected to exceed 80,000 tons, with pilot participant satisfaction exceeding 98%.

This project is a practical implementation of Jilin Province's "15th Five-Year Plan" for low-carbon energy transition in rural areas.

Following the provincial energy work plan, the local area continues to advance clean heating in cold rural regions, promoting complementary models using solar and electric power, steadily reducing the use of decentralized coal in rural areas, and building a green heating system adapted to severe cold climates.

Supported by the province's "Land-based Three Gorges of Wind and Solar Power" project, Jilin's energy consumption per unit of GDP decreased by 3.2% year-on-year in the first half of the year, with installed renewable energy capacity surpassing 20 million kilowatts.

This ample supply of new energy provides a solid industrial foundation for Dehui's solar heating renovation.

Many residents previously worried that the short winter daylight hours in the Northeast would make solar heating unreliable.

This integrated solution for heat collection, storage, and freeze protection precisely addresses the heating shortcomings in extreme cold regions, making Changchun one of the earlier cities in China to achieve large-scale implementation of extreme-cold solar heating and creating a replicable, scalable path for rural clean heating.

Currently, construction in Dehui's townships is being carried out in phases to manage peak periods, seizing the late summer construction window to strive towards the completion target by the end of October.

When winter snows arrive, the sight of smoke billowing from coal-burning chimneys in rural homes will be greatly reduced.

The clean heating renovation connects directly to both the warmth of the people and green development.

For farmers, it means no more stockpiling coal or lighting fires at midnight, enjoying constant, clean indoor temperatures.

For the villages, it means a significant reduction in smoke and dust pollution and continuously improving air quality.

For the province's low-carbon transition, the renovation of ten thousand households in Dehui creates a model for green rural heating, using technological innovation to solve the age-old problem of winter heating in Northeast China's countryside.

The summer sun shines on the rows of solar collector tubes atop farmhouses, steadily accumulating the heat energy needed to withstand the coming winter cold.

This livelihood project, rooted in the black soil, integrates low-carbon development into the daily lives of ordinary people, uses clean energy to safeguard winter warmth in the countryside, and promotes the coordinated advancement of rural revitalization and the "Dual Carbon" goals.