Acknowledging the 30th anniversary of China's Broad Group, Zhou Shanqing, commercial counselor of China's Consulate General in New York, called the privately held company one of the pioneers in establishing operations in the US. Zhang Yue, a former artist and now the company's chairman, started Broad Group with about $3,000 in 1988, mainly to make industrial air conditioners. Based in Changsha in Central China's Hunan province, Broad now has more than 3,000 employees and has products in more than 80 countries. "The average US building has annual utility costs of about $3 a square foot," he said. "Our utility costs average about 75 cents a square foot using existing technology."