The company expects worldwide demand to remain sluggish but the trend toward more energy efficient products should help drive demand in its commercial air conditioning systems business.
The International Energy Agency says the trend of rising European demand is "close to peaking", and by 2017 it will drop to levels slightly above those in 2011.
Smart metering is part of an increasingly popular trend in energy efficiency called "demand response" in which customers voluntarily cut back on their power consumption during times of highest electricity demand, like the hottest days of summer, when air conditioners are running at full blast.
Although efficiency may explain a recent leveling of this trend, the penetration rate of building solutions has been insufficient to offset the sheer energydemand, highlighting a gap between actual and theoretical impact.
The trend includes linking production and energy resources in an efficient manner, and moving production closer to market demand in order to minimize transportation related costs.