UAE- Zayed Future Energy Prize winners honoured

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Former US Vice-President Al Gore receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Abu Dhabi — Former US Vice-President Al Gore took away the Zayed Future Energy Prize (ZFEP) Lifetime Achievement Award that came with a cheque for $500000.

Accepting the award during the opening of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week from General Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of UAE Armed Forces on Monday Gore said his work to put some brakes to climate change is only “just beginning.”

General Shaikh Mohammed said that under the leadership of the President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan the UAE has become a centre of gravity for the encouragement and incubation of innovations for those who seek to find solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

General Shaikh Mohammed emphasised the importance of moving forward in the modernisation and development efforts with a commitment to the principles of sustainable development.

“It all starts with an idea and our bid to honour and continue the legacy of Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan – who advocated for education and the development of human resources throughout his lifetime. We aim to encourage the bright minds and the innovators to find practical solutions for our world’s challenges; in a path towards a better future built on the pillars and foundations of sustainability.”

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi honoured the winners.

An active environmentalist for the past 40 years Al Gore is most known for “spilling the beans” about the dangers of climate change to the American masses.

“We have everything we need to solve this problem of climate change with the possible exception of political will but political will is a renewable source itself” he said.

Al Gore added that when he recently visited Abu Dhabi he was “extremely impressed” with the UAE and particularly Masdar’s solar projects in the Capital and around the world.

$4 million worth awards

Every year the ZFEP awards big and small companies non-government organisations and high schools for their work and projects related to a better environment.

The total fund for the awards is $4 million shared between small and medium enterprises ($1.5 million) Non-profit organisations ($1.5 million) high schools ($500000 divided among five schools from five different regions of the world) and the lifetime achievement categories.

The Big Corporations categories only get to take home the glory as they are well-off financially.

This year the most sustainable company was declared to be Panasonic which fought for the ZFEP Big Corporation award against Enelm Green Power (Italy) First Solar (USA) and Ikea (Sweden).

Altogether there were over 1000 applications for the 2015 awards only 30 of them made it to the final list and nine were awarded on Monday morning.

A Kenyan company M-Kopa received the small and medium enterprise award for their pay-as-you-go mobile clean energy units installed in poor areas where Kenyans normally spend $200 per year for energy substitutes.

Leader of Lights from the Philippines was the winner in the non-profit organisations category their cheap and efficient solutions for providing electricity to Filipino communities struck by earthquakes and other natural disasters making them stand out.

Americas Europe Africa Oceania and Asia are the five regions for the Global High Schools category with one high school selected as winner from each region.

The five are Munro Academy (Canada) Petru Rares National College (Romania) Waterford Kamblaha (Swaziland) Melbourne Girls’s College (Australia) and Addu High school (Maldives) for their projects to improve their own schools and their communities with greener electricity fitting solar panels insulating buildings and even establishing renewable energy educational centre.

silviakhaleejtimes.com