The 2013 award ceremony took place on 15 January at the Emirates Palace during the inaugural Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
"The WindMade initiative is an innovative way of promoting the use of renewable energy, and it is a great honour for us to be certified by an initiative that the Prize has supported. WindMade has grown to become one of the most coveted certifications in the wind power industry and this is truly a great testament to how the prize is catalysing innovation," said Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, director general of the Zayed Future Energy Prize and chief executive officer of Masdar, Abu Dhabi's multifaceted renewable energy company.
"In such a short period of time, we are experiencing, first hand, how the Prize is fulfilling the mandate set out by the wise leadership of Abu Dhabi - catalysing innovation thorugh collaborative efforts, initiating action and empowering individuals and organizations in the pursuit of a more sustainable future," he added.
The Zayed Future Energy Prize is a $4million (€2.9 milion) prize for individuals, organisations and schools working to find solutions to tackle the global challenges of energy, water and sustainability.
In 2011, the world's leading wind turbine manufacturer Vestas was awarded the first place in the prestigious prize, and donated half of its $1.5 million (€1.1 million) prize money to the WindMade initiative.
As an independent non-governmental organisation, WindMade strives to raise demand and corporate investment in renewable energy by educating consumers on the benefits of clean technologies and by providing a tool for corporates to effectively communicate their commitment to wind power and other renewable energy sources.
"Vestas' generous donation of the Zayed prize money has greatly contributed to the development and global expansion of the WindMade labelling programme," said Henrik Kuffner, CEO, WindMade. "We continue to be grateful to both Vestas and the Zayed Future Energy Prize for their support. The fact that the Zayed Future Energy Prize award ceremony itself is now WindMade labelled is therefore particularly significant to our initiative. We would also like to congratulate this year's winners."
The Zayed Future Energy Prize 2013, which culminated a year-long, four-stage evaluation process, honored eight winners at the award ceremony. Winners were Siemens in the Large Corporation category; d.light design in the Small Medium Enterprise category, Ceres in the Non-Governmental Organisation category; Dr. Jose Goldemberg in the Lifetime Achievement category. In the newly introduced Global High Schools category, the winners were Secundaria Tecnica 120 School from Cuernavaca, Mexico (Americas); Okehampton College in the UK (Europe); Kirya Secondary School (Africa); and Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Bangladesh Islamia School, based in Abu Dhabi (Asia).
For additional information:
