India shines at 2006 Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy

London, June 16 (UNI) Indian projects have won the first and second prizes at the 2006 Ashden Awards ceremony for Sustainable Energy.

The world's leading green energy awards were presented at the Royal Geographical Society here. The event was addressed by David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party and Lord May, one of the UK's leading scientists and former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK government.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Ashden Awards, also addressed the ceremony via a video message and personally congratulated all the winners in a separate private ceremony.

A Clarence House spokesperson said, ''The Prince of Wales was impressed by the remarkable determination of the project leaders who have achieved inspiring results in difficult environments and often with very little backing. His Royal Highness hopes that the practical, simple and economical solutions demonstrated by each of these projects would aid the adoption of these technologies on a larger scale.'' ''All this year's winners show how pursuing a sustainable approach to energy generation makes financial sense and, crucially, has the potential to radically improve the lives of the communities involved. We hope that others will be inspired to follow these highly replicable schemes'' Sarah Butler-Sloss, Chairperson of the judging panel and Executive Chair of the Awards said.

Four awards were given in recognition of the way in which sustainable energy has been used to improve access to Light, to Food, to promote Enterprise and to improve Health and Welfare. An Africa Award was given in recognition of the urgent need to address the combined challenges of environmental degradation and lack of access to resources in the region.

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