The Queen Elizabeth II High School are delighted to announce they have reached the final of the Zayed Future Energy Prize, the world’s preeminent award for innovation in renewable energy and sustainability www.zayedfutureenergyprize.com.
The prize represents the vision of His Highness, the late Founding Father and President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, who championed environmental stewardship.
The total prize fund was increased in 2012 to US$4 million, making it the world’s largest prize purse for renewable energy and sustainability. The prize fund is divided between individuals and organisations who are working to find solutions to tackle the global challenges of energy, water and sustainability. This year, the competition drew a record 579 entries from 88 countries.
The five categories - Large Corporations, Small and Medium Enterprises, Non-Governmental Organisations, Lifetime Achievement (individuals) and the newly launched Global High School prize category, were assessed based on the prize criteria of ‘Innovation, Impact, Leadership and Long-term Vision’. The Global High School prize of US$500,000 is divided between 5 regions - Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
Our School is one of two schools in the final for Europe. The other finalist is Okehampton College in Devon. If our School were to win, the prize money would help with a pioneering project to combine the School Biomass heating system with a wind turbine.
Moira Pain, aged 17, who is Head Girl and a member of our Eco-Committee said “From our present understanding of the effects of climate change, we believe that it is important to challenge our energy use locally in order to help global issues. Part of our School ethos is that every student, no matter what their background or academic ability, has a responsibility to the planet. We therefore have a thriving Eco-Committee who are always looking for new ways to inspire others about the importance of being ‘green’, and help reduce our collective carbon emissions. The work we have done in School has been recognised by Eco-Schools, The Jane Goodall Institute Roots & Shoots, The Citizenship Foundation (UK) and The Volvo Environmental Award. It has had a positive effect on engendering a School energy saving ethos. We believe energy saving initiatives and a reduction in the use of fossil fuels is of major importance for the future of our planet. We continually explore new ideas as well as question technologies available for energy saving and production”.
Lesley Sleight, Head of Life Skills, added “We hope the project will gain considerable publicity and, if successful, will encourage other organisations to explore similar systems. We will create a live feed on the Department of Education Intranet, the data from which would be used as a learning tool for students all over the Island. Government Departments would also have access to live data feeds from the Biomass boiler and wind turbine as well as installation and running costs. This would enable real time exploration of the system and would give information relating to its efficiency".
The School Eco-Committee has produced a video where they talk about combining the biomass boiler with a wind generator. The video can be viewed at - http://youtu.be/v6bwcSqxfDU.
A film crew from Abu Dhabi will be filming at the School on Friday, 16th November. This is in preparation for the Award Ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, 15th January 2013 which takes place during the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week.
