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The UAE announced the success of its commitment to the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) initiative through the Global High Schools category of the Zayed Future Energy Prize yesterday on the last day of the Second Annual United Nations Sustainable Energy for All Forum at the UN in New York.
Dr Kandeh Yumkella, special representative of the UN secretary-general & CEO of SE4All and Ahmed Alhendawi, the UN secretary-general’s envoy on youth, presented certificates of recognition to student representatives of three previous prize winners in the Global High Schools category at a special awards ceremony in the UN headquarters. Bronx Design & Construction Academy in the United States, Malawi-based Zayed Solar Academy and Melbourne Girls’ College in Australia received the awards as recognition of the contributions their winning projects will make towards meeting the three aims of the SE4All initiative.
In 2012, the Global High Schools category was introduced as a commitment to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s SE4All initiative, for which he announced the targets at the 2012 World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. SE4All focuses on three objectives to be achieved by 2030: ensure universal access to modern energy services, double the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency and double the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
Now in its fourth year, the Global High Schools category provides US$500,000 a year of valuable funding to schools around the world, aiming to accelerate the adoption of clean energy through education. So far, 14 schools worldwide have received US$100,000 each for project proposals encouraging youth to incorporate renewable energy and sustainability into the daily operations of their schools and local communities.
On the second day of the forum, Tuesday, May 19, Ruby Williams, a current student of Melbourne Girls’ College and Dikirani Thaulo, former student of Zayed Solar Academy represented the Zayed Future Energy Prize in a panel titled, ‘Rising Tide: The Power of Youth’. The session determined that young people should not be viewed solely as the ‘next’ generation as they can have a major impact in the world today.
As a testament to the prize’s influence in young people’s lives, former Zayed Solar Academy student Dikirani Thaulo said: “In the last year, I learned a valuable trade; I became a solar engineer and now I am able to equip households in rural Malawi, which previously had no access to electricity, with off-grid energy supply. My fellow graduates and I can now bring light to those without it because of the funding my community received from the Zayed Future Energy Prize to create the Zayed Solar Academy.”
Similarly, Ruby Williams of Melbourne Girls’ College revealed: “With equipment bought using Zayed Future Energy Prize funds, my classmates and I are learning the value of the energy we use every day. Whether it’s conducting experiments to compare conventional energy sources with distributed renewables or generating electricity to charge our mobile phones by exercising, we are developing an understanding of the energy our lifestyles consume.”
M-KOPA Solar, the Kenya-based ‘pay-as-you-go’ off-grid energy services provider, and Liter of Light, the social movement providing affordable, sustainable solar lights – winners of the Small and Medium Enterprise and Non-Profit Organisation categories of the 2015 prize respectively – also shared success stories and insights in panel discussions during the four-day forum.
In seven years, winners and finalists of the Zayed Future Energy Prize have touched the lives of over 150 million people – generating 190,000 MWh from renewable energy sources, reducing 800 million tonnes of carbon emissions, providing safe drinking water to six million people and introducing 350,000 people to sustainable solutions and management best practices.
Organisations, individuals and high schools can visit the Zayed Future Energy website at www.ZayedFutureEnergyPrize.com for more information on how to submit for the 2016 awards or to nominate candidates for the lifetime achievement category. Submissions and nominations close on 22 June 2015.
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