As our colleague Judy Wang pointed out recently, the building automation market in Asia is expected to reach $1 billion by 2015. That’s a lot of systems — both in terms of potential efficiencies and missed opportunities if engineers are less than well informed. Engineered Systems will be helping to make the most of this growth by reaching engineers and owners in China with four more dedicated editions next year.

We’ll be bringing the usual mix of articles, case studies, new product info, etc., to readers, while also delivering 30% local Chinese content in those issues.

We are proud to welcome five contributing consultants to assist in creating a version of the publication that will make a real difference in this burgeoning sector. They are:

  • Professor Wu Desheng. The former director of Beijing Institute of Architectural Design/BIAD is now a consulting engineer.

  • Professor Xu Wei. Director of the Institute of Building Environment and Energy (IBEE) / China Academy of Building Research (CABR).

  • Professor Di Hongfa. The former director at Tsinghua University’s Institute of Building Environment and Equipment Engineering, and a former professor at Tsinghua University School of Architecture Construction Technology.

  • Xu Hongqing. General Engineer/Design Director, Beijing Institute of Architectural Design.

  • Dr. Yuan Qing. Vice President of the China International Building Materials Market Research Institute, and also a senior marketing expert.

I’m really pleased that our publisher, Peter Moran, and our associate in China, Judy Wang, are spearheading this effort to extend our writers’ insights into this market. If you find yourself traveling to one of the major trade shows over there next year or visit other firms, have a look — you just might see a familiar logo and a familiar face or two amid the publications.

BOOK ‘EM

It’s always a little bit of a surprise when HVAC content shows up in non-HVAC media. Last month, I stumbled across an article that Susannah Locke wrote for Vox (www.vox.com), “How air conditioning changed America forever.”

The bulk is spent on an interview with Salvatore Basile, the author of a recent book titled Cool: How Air Conditioning Changed Everything. Beyond revisiting the attitude behind some of the initial opposition to the technology by both the ice industry and some of the general population (“God made bad weather so you should just put up with it”), it also touches on the impact air conditioning has had in areas like architecture and computers. If you’d like a few minutes’ job-related lighter reading, it’s at http://bit.ly/1BJdP82.

Closer to home, recurring ES feature author Ray Wohlfarth has a book out as well: it’s a second volume of Lessons Learned:  Connecting Old Boilers To New Pipes: Things You Should Know When Replacing Old Commercial Hydronic Boilers. You can reportedly pick that up at Amazon and get the full blurb on page 62 of this issue.