ABB, the power and automation technology group, said the economic crisis is reinforcing three trends that have been driving demand for the company: the battle against climate change, the search for energy and process efficiency, and the strength of emerging markets.
The trends will extend beyond the current economic cycle and will increasingly shape ABB's research and development activities, as well as decisions on where to locate new facilities, CEO Joe Hogan said in Zurich.
Efforts to lower greenhouse-gas emissions and especially to promote renewable energy have gained new momentum under the stimulus plans of many governments, Hogan said. In addition, awareness that energy prices will rise over the long term, combined with the need to cut costs to weather the current downturn, are driving industries to improve the efficiency of their energy consumption and processes.
ABB also said approximately 75% of the growth it has seen in the past five years has come from the emerging economies, and this trend is likely to continue.
"Despite the current economic crisis, the long-term growth factors for ABB remain unchanged: Steadily rising electricity demand, the rapid rebound of the emerging-market economies and the need to feed renewable power into existing grids require solutions for more and better power infrastructure, energy efficiency and industrial productivity," Hogan said.
Energy efficiency was a primary purchasing criterion for products, systems and services representing about 45% of ABB's revenue in 2008, the company also said, and as energy prices increase this share will rise further.
Opportunities to increase this share abound. An ABB analysis of industrial energy consumption carried out this year has shown that $180bn could be saved annually by improving energy efficiency and productivity with the best-performing technologies on the market today.
