Unable to significantly reduce carbon emissions, the US government encourages energy conservation to mitigate its negative environmental impact. Consequently, the US has spent approximately $4 billion annually on energy-saving equipment over the past few years. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), China's investment in energy conservation-related spending in 2013 was almost one-third of the global total, reaching $4.3 billion, surpassing the US for the first time. Global spending on energy conservation totaled $14.9 billion in 2013, a 5% increase from 2012.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BNEF points out that the energy efficiency market in Asia and Europe will continue to grow until 2020, while North America will shift its focus from investing in energy-efficient hardware to investing in software in order to find key energy-saving measures from grid data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China has already installed nearly 250 million smart meters. In comparison, the European Union expects to increase the number of smart meters installed from the current 55 million to 180 million by 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n