Broad Group is a private manufacturer of central air conditioning non-electric absorption chillers that are powered by

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

and

waste heat Waste heat is heat that is produced by a machine, or other process that uses energy, as a byproduct of doing work. All such processes give off some waste heat as a fundamental result of the laws of thermodynamics. Waste heat has lower utility ...

based in

Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...

, China. It is also the parent company of Broad Sustainable Building, a prefab building company. The company was established in 1996 and exports products to over 60 countries.

History

1988–1992: The early years

Zhang Yue founded Broad in 1988, registering the company in

Chenzhou Chenzhou () is a prefecture-level city located in the south of Hunan province, China, bordering the provinces of Jiangxi to the east and Guangdong to the south. Its administrative area covers , 9.2% of the provincial area, and its total populatio ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

province. Using his savings of $3000, Broad developed industrial boilers based on Zhang's patented design. In the 1980s, most domestically manufactured

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centra ...

s were of poor quality and had high risk of exploding, while Broad's did not.

1992–2005: Move to Changsha and rise

In 1992, the company was moved to

and began manufacturing absorption chillers. At the time, the government provided incentives for non-electric chillers to relieve strain on the national electricity grid, contributing to the company's rise as it became the global leader in absorption chiller by sales in 1996; it entered the international market in 1998 and today, its sales in domestic and international markets split evenly. In 2015, BSB built a 57-storey

Mini Sky City Mini Sky City (小天城) is a 57-story, 204m high building in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrat ...

that stands at a height of 204 m. The construction of the tower took just 19 days. The Tower was built using pre-manufactured steel modules which are also going to be used in construction of the Sky City One.

Innovations

Invented in 2009, the BSB achieves high energy efficiency and carbon reduction primarily through

thermal insulation Thermal insulation is the reduction of heat transfer (i.e., the transfer of thermal energy between objects of differing temperature) between objects in thermal contact or in range of radiative influence. Thermal insulation can be achieved with s ...

, preventing cool air from leaving indoors and hot air from coming in from outdoors when the weather is hot and vice versa when the weather is cold, and requires short construction time since parts are pre-fabricated in factories and assembled onsite. BSB has also been tested to be able to resist a 9.0 magnitude

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

and was recommended in a

United Nations Environment Program The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...

report on the rebuilding of

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

after its catastrophic earthquake in 2008.

Environmental record

In May 2011, Broad's founder and chairman, Zhang Yue, was awarded the Champions of the Earth Award (Entrepreneurial Vision Category) by the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the Declaration of the United Nati ...

for Broad's commitment to climate change. It was one of the ten companies to be recognized by the ''

BusinessWeek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' Greener China Business Awards in 2009. It was also named one of the "20 Most Admired Companies in China" in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005 by China's '' Economic Observer'' and

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

References

External links

Official US site
{{Coord, 28.212676, N, 113.120792, E, display=title Construction and civil engineering companies of China Companies based in Changsha Manufacturing companies established in 1988 Chinese companies established in 1988 Sustainable building Chinese brands Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1988