From compressor supplier to smart energy multiplier

The term "building a green economy" may come across as the vacuous creation of a political spin doctor somewhere, but for many companies the sound of cash pouring into their coffers as a result of work in this field has anything but a hollow ring.

One of them is Danfoss of Denmark, which makes, among other things, energy control devices. Danfoss, which celebrated its 80th birthday last year, now operates in 18 countries and has 56 factories. It has four major business lines: green building, cold chains, hot chains and district energy. It had revenue of about 33.6 billion Danish krone ($6.2 billion) worldwide last year and employed 23,000 people.

The company set up shop in China in 1996 and has invested 1 billion yuan ($161 million) in the market. It has two industrial campuses, one in Wuqing, Tianjian, and another in Haiyan, Zhejiang province, and a standalone factory in Anshan, Liaoning province.