Book excerpt: This book provides an insightful assessment of today's ESCO (energy services) industry around the world. Analyzing current trends, the volume discusses opportunities and problems of the ESCO industry in each country. It includes significant contributions by Pierre Langlois and Paolo Bertoldi. The author and contributors have reached into the far corners of the world to get trusted colleagues to tell the story of the energy services industry's development in their respective countries, and in their own words. Chapters cover selected countries from Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, North America, South America, New Zealand and Australia, as well as the overall global picture.