Nominees

Applicant: Border Green Energy Team
Project title: Myanmar solar hospital project
Country of implementation: Myanmar

Border Green Energy Team (BGET) provides ethnic minorities in the border area between Thailand and Myanmar with proven energy technology as well as training and financial aid. Previously there was no electric power in this region, and hospitals were forced to operate at night without light and power. Since 2003 Burmese medical personnel on the Thai side of the border have been trained to install and maintain solar energy systems. Then they returned to their side of the border with the necessary equipment; there they installed the systems in hospitals. In 2007 two larger hospitals were equipped with more powerful energy systems, so that medicines can now be refrigerated and medical equipment and computers are powered. With additional courses from dental hygiene to solar energy, BGET has achieved improvement in the quality of life in the borderland.

This initiative of the Border Green Energy Team ensures environmentally friendly solar power to provide around-the-clock medical services for some 200,000 domestic refugees. This is a truly sustainable energy project.

Applicant: Municipality of Měňany
Project title: Central regional heating using biomass
Country of implementation: Czech Republic

The community of Měňany in the Czech nature reserve Český Kras has established a regional heating network for the whole town to provide local energy and heat. The network consists of three biomass furnaces and a comprehensive regional heating network for all households. The furnaces are fired with waste wood, which is available in the area in sufficient quantity. This ensures short transport distances and a price below the coal that was used before. In the future, excess straw from agricultural production will be used for heat production.

The switch from coal to renewable energy from wood protects both budgets the environment. In the place of fossil fuels, renewable energy now ensures a comfortable standard of living in the nature reserve. Crisis proof energy from nature and its environmentally friendly utilization combine to yield exemplary sustainability.

Applicant: New Age Energy, Inc.
Project title: Tri-Generation solar power supply system for commercial and residential buildings
Country of implementation: USA

Tri-Generation is a solar power supply system that enables full energy autonomy for large or small buildings either on the grid or as isolated applications. The system is built around movable parabolic mirrors over an area of 150 m². These mirrors bundle the solar radiation and concentrate it on eight collector modules, where power and heat are generated. The thermal and electrical output is five times that of conventional systems. Excess power is stored in a zinc-bromine fuel cell and is readily available on demand. The generated heat is used for heating and cooling via a buffer tank and coupled geothermal collectors. The cooling
system works on the basis of evaporation of water and is especially environmentally friendly because it does not use conventional coolants. The overall system is controlled by a central energy management system. This enables operating a building with 1000m² with solar energy alone.