TIDE wins Ashden Awards

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release

19 June 2008

South Indian stove business wins Energy Champion title in international green energy Awards

Tonight at a ceremony in London , the worlds leading green energy prize awarded the top accolade of Energy Champion to Technology Informatics Design Endeavour (TIDE). TIDE is a pioneering sustainable energy project begun in the Southern Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala, which is now expanding to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The Ashden Awards prize of £40,000 was presented to Svati Bhogle, Chief Executive of TIDE, by Kenyan Nobel Prize laureate Wangari Maathai.

Many of South India s small businesses rely on wood as their main source of fuel, which causes pollution and deforestation, not to mention uncomfortable and dangerous working conditions when boilers and stoves are badly designed. Building on the excellent track record of stove design at the renowned Indian Institute of Science, TIDE commercialises their designs to provide efficient woodstoves and kilns which save at least 30 percent of fuel and are tailor-made for specific small industries. To date 110,000 workers enjoy better conditions thanks to the 10,000 products TIDE has supplied, saving around 43,000 tonnes of wood each year.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, founder and chair of the Ashden Awards said:

Our judges were impressed that TIDE provide much-needed support to small businesses across Southern India , assisting a sector that is often overlooked and involving them in the design of affordable, practical and appropriate technology. TIDEs stoves and boilers are highly fuel-efficient, improve working conditions and bring great environmental benefits, as well as saving money. The scheme has huge potential to expand, and the Ashden Awards is delighted to be supporting TIDE in bringing these manifold benefits to thousands more small industries.

Accepting the Ashden Award on behalf of TIDE, Svati Bhogle said:

The Ashden Award is not just an acknowledgement of past success; it is the acceptance of a responsibility and gives us the motivation to venture into uncharted terrain, to first break new ground and then develop it into a beaten track.

There is a serious energy crisis in rural India, but access to energy and its efficient use, accompanied by well-conceived and well-implemented enabling mechanisms, has the potential to transform rural areas, Ms Bhogle added.

Nobel prize-winning environmentalist Wangari Maathai said:

We are here tonight to celebrate these wonderful energy pioneers, who are responding to the needs of their communities. They have decided to take action in the face of huge challenges, displaying not just patience and persistence, but a sense of urgency and determination. We salute these sustainability champions and the Ashden Awards, who help to make their work better known so that they can continue to inspire others.

His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Patron of The Ashden Awards, personally congratulated this years Ashden Awards winners at a separate meeting. A Clarence House spokesperson said:

"The Prince of Wales was deeply encouraged to learn of the solutions demonstrated by the Ashden Awards that can reduce our dependency on a carbon economy. His Royal Highness was particularly impressed by the local sustainable energy initiatives recognised and promoted by the Awards, which not only meet the needs of communities, but tackle climate change and further sustainable development."

ENDS

For further information on the 2008 Ashden Awards international finalists (including case studies) and to schedule interviews, contact Ilana Cravitz, International Press Officer:

T + 44 (0) 20 8985 3724; M + 44 (0) 782 551 0881; E ilana.cravitz@ashdenawards.org

Download photos:

• Awards ceremony: http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners_2008_photos
• Winners with HRH The Prince of Wales http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners_HRH_2008
• International projects: http://www.ashdenawards.org/photos.

 Broadcast quality film footage of international projects and the Awards ceremony will be available online at: http://www.ashdenawards.org/broadcast_films

Notes to editors

1. The Ashden Awards are a UK-based charity that work to increase the use of local sustainable energy worldwide. They find, reward and publicise the work of leading sustainable energy programmes working across the developing world and in the UK. For further information, including details on past winners, funders and supporters go to: www.ashdenawards.org

2. Five other international schemes were awarded £20,000 each on 19 June by the UK-based Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy, to promote replication and expansion of renewable energy projects. Bangladeshi solar programme Grameen Shakti won this years Outstanding Achievement Award and a £15,000 prize.

3. TIDE is funded by grants which help in developing new technologies for specific applications. Grant funders have included the India-Canada Environment Facility, The Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation, the Science and Society Division of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, ETC Foundation Netherlands and the UNDP-GEF small grants programme.

4. Many of the stove designs originated at the Centre for Sustainable Technologies (formerly ASTRA) at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; TIDE has a technology cooperation agreement with the Centre.

5. The call for entries for the 2009 Ashden Awards opens on 19 June 2008. Expressions of interest for the international Awards should be received by 21 October 2008. Details and application forms are online at www.ashdenawards.org

6. A new piece of research commissioned by the UKs Department for International Development (DFID) looked in detail at some previous Ashden Award-winning programmes. It shows that these programmes can achieve significant scale and deliver significant benefits for people and the environment the ten surveyed programmes are serving nine million people across Africa and Asia, and saving 1.9 million tonnes of CO₂ this year (equivalent to the total domestic emissions of more than 700,000 UK citizens). The report is online at http://www.ashdenawards.org/reports/low_carbon_energy