Video: Al Gore presents Ashden Award winners 2007

Last night I nipped along to the Ashden Awards ceremony. Here's a lo-fi 9 minute video I recorded of Al Gore giving out the sustainable energy awards. If you're after a list of the winners, continue reading.

Please note, these are just copy and pastes of the press releases for UK and international award winners:

Renewable energy pioneers from Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Tanzania win first prizes in the world’s leading green energy awards.

Outstanding renewable energy projects from Ghana, India, Nepal, Peru and Philippines are awarded second prizes of £10,000 each.

Winners personally congratulated by His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

London - 21 June 2007- Winners of the 2007 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy were tonight announced following an awards ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London addressed by former US Vice President Al Gore. He congratulated each winner on their inspiring efforts to create lasting solutions to climate change.

Five international awards were given in recognition of the way in which sustainable energy has been used to improve access to Light and Power, to Food, to Education and Welfare, to promote Enterprise and to address the challenges of lack of access to essential energy resources in Africa.

This year, for the first time, an Outstanding Achievement Award was awarded to a past winner whose work has accelerated and made a significant contribution to the spread of sustainable energy solutions since winning an Ashden Award.

4 UK awards were also awarded to pioneering approaches to sustainable energy use across the UK.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Executive Chair and chair of the judging panel said: “Our winners show how sustainable energy can improve health, education and livelihoods and at the same time reduce carbon emissions. If these technologies were expanded and replicated on a large scale, they would play a significant role in helping us to tackle climate change and poverty. What we need now is the political will to scale-up and roll-out these solutions”

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Ashden Awards personally congratulated all the winners in a separate private ceremony. A Clarence House spokesperson said of the meeting:

”The Prince of Wales was highly impressed by the diverse range of outstanding sustainable energy solutions from the UK and across the globe. His Royal Highness was particularly encouraged by the fact that these pioneering initiatives offer practical, simple and economical solutions that others can easily follow”

International winners:

CHINA: Beijing Shenzhou Daxu Bio-energy Technology Company Ltd (Daxu) wins the Enterprise Award (£30,000) for developing and marketing an innovative stove design that replaces coal by burning widely available crop waste as well as burning wood much more efficiently.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_daxu

INDIA: BIOTECH wins the Food Security Award (£30,000) for developing and installing biogas plants in Kerala that use food waste which is often left out in the streets to rot, to generate gas for cooking.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_biotech

LAOS: Sunlabob Renewable Energies Ltd wins the Light and Power Award (£30,000) for developing an innovative and commercially viable business model which provides high quality solar PV systems to the rural poor at a price they can afford.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_sunlabob

BANGLADESH: Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha wins the Education and Welfare Award (£30,000)
for building up a fleet of 88 boats that use solar energy to bring education, training and renewable energy supplies to over 400,000 people living in the remote Chalanbeel region of Bangladesh.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_shidhulai

TANZANIA: Zara Solar Ltd. wins the Africa Award (£30,000) for providing high-quality, reliable solar-home-systems at affordable prices to communities lacking access to a reliable source of energy.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_zara

INDIA: Harish Hande from SELCO wins the Outstanding Achievement Award (£15,000) for, in the words of the judges,  “the way in which this visionary individual has demonstrated beyond doubt that it is possible to run a renewable energy business which is both a striking commercial success, and which lifts people out of poverty, too.” SELCO is a private business committed to providing the highest quality solar energy services to poor people on financial terms they can afford.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary_selco

International second prize winners
NEPAL: Centre for Rural Technology, Nepal takes second prize for the Enterprise Award (£10,000) for upgrading over 2,400 traditional water mills in the Himalayas of Nepal and so improving livelihoods for millers and mill-users and stemming the rise in diesel mills.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_crt

INDIA: SKG Sangha takes second prize for the Food Security Award (£10,000) for improving the lives of rural communities in Karnataka, South India by supplying them with both dung based biogas plants for cooking and a specially designed unit that turns the slurry from the biogas plant into high quality fertiliser.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_skg

PERU: Practical Action/ITDG takes second prize for the Education and Welfare Award (£10,000) for transforming the lives of over 30,000 people living in remote villages in the Andes by providing them with electricity generated by micro-hydro plants.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_practicalaction

PHILIPPINES: Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation Inc. takes second prize for the Education and Welfare Award (£10,000) for developing a ram pump design built to last at least twenty years and for bringing clean water to over 15,000 people through the installation of these ram pumps in 68 hillside villages in the Philippines.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_aid

GHANA: Deng Ltd takes second prize for the African Award (£10,000) for developing a viable and sustainable business for the provision of solar-home-systems to rural areas where access to grid supply is limited.
Full summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_deng

The Ashden Awards Business Support and Dissemination Programme sponsored by British Gas was also launched at tonights ceremony.This provides award winners with advice or training in business and human resource development as well as a range of other support to help them reach their full potential.

Notes to editors
For further information, interviews contact Maya Vaughan Tel. 020 7263 2551 or Mobile: 07726926227 E: maya.vaughan@ashdenawards.org

Download photos of the Award ceremony http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners_2007_photos
Download photos with HRH Prince of Wales http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners_HRH_2007
Download photos of the international projects http://www.ashdenawards.org/projects_2007_photos

For information on the UK Ashden Award winners, see: http://www.ashdenawards.org/uk_press_2007

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy – now in its 7th year – exists to both highlight and reward exemplary and successful examples of sustainable energy use both in the UK and the developing world.

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy were created in 2001 by the Ashden Trust. The 2006 Awards are funded by nine Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts along with the John Ellerman Foundation, Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust and Climate Care.

PRESS RELEASE

Winners announced at world’s leading green energy awards

Winners congratulated by Al Gore

London/Tonight former US Vice President Al Gore presented awards to winners at a well-attended ceremony for the 2007 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy. He congratulated each winner on their inspiring efforts to create lasting solutions to climate change. The select renewable energy and energy efficiency pioneers were from across the UK and countries as far afield as China, Laos, Bangladesh, Ghana and Peru.

The UK winners are:
Energy Business award (new)
Ecotricity, a fast-growing electricity supply company rapidly making wind power a more popular and effective renewable energy option in the UK by working in close consultation with local communities, careful selection of wind farm sites and using the most efficient and reliable turbines.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_ecotricity

Renewable Energy award
Wood Energy, one of the UK’s leading wood-fuel heating businesses, providing over a third of the country’s total wood heat capacity and saving almost 12,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions a year through its large scale and domestic boiler installations.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_woodenergy

Energy Efficiency award (joint winners)
Cumbria Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, scaling up simple energy efficiency measures throughout Cumbria with an integrated and highly professional service offering advice, funding and insulation. In just two years it has insulated the cavity walls of over 9,000 homes and provided loft insulation for over 5,000 homes, saving 12,500 tonnes of CO2 a year and reducing fuel bills by over £1.6 million a year.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_ceeac

And…
ENWORKS based in Greater Manchester, using a unique online toolkit to help businesses in the North-West reduce their use of resources, cut their waste production – and make huge cost savings. Almost 1,000 businesses are participating in the programme, saving them about £12 million a year from a total capital investment of only £5.5 million and reducing CO2 emissions by 18,000 tonnes a year.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_enworks

Sustainable schools award
Woodheys Primary School in Sale, Cheshire has an excellent programme of practical energy saving across the school, a high-quality curriculum developed in partnership with WWF, a range of energy efficiency actions which have reduced gas consumption by 30% and a solar PV array on the school roof.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_woodheys

Second prizes go to:
Energy Business award
Solarcentury, a beacon for the UK’s solar power market, showing how attractive, flexible and easy to install solar PV can be, even in crowded urban areas. It has designed and installed 550 solar systems across the country, meeting the rigorous standards of planners as well as clients.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_solarcentury

Renewable Energy award
Nottinghamshire County Council, pioneering a scheme to heat its local schools with sustainable wood pellets instead of coal. Already, CO2 emissions have been reduced by 2,400 tonnes a year, providing a model for local authorities around the country.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_ncc

Sustainable schools award
Seaton Primary School in Devon, living out its school motto of ’Caring now for the Future‘, and is one of a few UK schools to install a range of renewable technologies. A 2.5 kW wind turbine and a 4.7 kW PV array on the roof of the school hall supply electricity directly to the school, and solar water heating panels heat the outdoor swimming pool.
Media summary: http://www.ashdenawards.org/media_summary07_UK_seaton

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Executive Chair of the Awards said “Our winners demonstrate how many creative ways there are to save energy and generate energy while also reducing carbon emissions. If these technologies were expanded and replicated on a large scale they could play a significant role in helping to tackle climate change.  All we need now is the political will to scale up and roll out these solutions”

Notes to editors:

Contact Juliet Heller, UK Media Manager: 
T 01621 868083; M 07946 616150; E Juliet.heller@ashdenawards.org

The Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy reward outstanding and innovative projects in the UK and developing countries which tackle climate change and improve quality of life by providing renewable energy and energy efficiency at a local level. www.ashdenawards.org

First prize winners receive £30,000 and second prize winners receive £10,000 - £15,000 to expand their sustainable energy programmes.

Download photos http://www.ashdenawards.org/projects_UK_2007_photos

Download ceremony photos: http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners_2007_photos

Press release on the international winners
http://www.ashdenawards.org/press_international_winners_2007

The Ashden Awards has launched a successful Business Support and Dissemination Programme sponsored by British Gas. This provides award winners with advice or training in business and human resource development as well as a range of other support to help them reach their full potential.