This letter refers to the article titled, “HVAC Security Emergencies: No Terrorist Required,” by Howard McKew, Gregory Dobbs, and Kevin M. Cogley, which appeared in the July 2012 issue of Engineered Systems (page 26).

This is an excellent article and very well written. This, if read, should make the HVAC engineers, building owners, and the building O&M people sit up and take notice. I hope it also makes ASHRAE wake up and understand that we all need this type of mindset, which can only be led by a central clearinghouse committee such as ours.

Richard Sherren, P.E.

Chief Project Engineer

Kinetics Noise Control

Dublin, OH

McKew responds:

Thank you for your feedback, and I can’t agree with you more. After all the years in the HVAC business and being directly involved with the commissioning at the Pentagon, I have been amazed at what I have learned from sitting in on the TRG-2 sessions in these past couple of years. I look forward to working with the group to further advance the issue of everyday emergencies that can be made better or worse via the HVAC systems.