Sustainable Energy week just wrapped in the European Union, where the focus was on renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transport and alternative fuels. A number of GE technologies are playing a part in that effort – with one project, the Hungarian Schools Illumination Program, having just received a Sustainable Energy Europe Award. As described in the video below, GE upgraded the lighting systems in schools throughout the country. Financed primarily by the energy savings — which were as high as 40 percent – the schools were able to participate in the program without accessing additional state funds for their investment.
Light touch: Accepting the award are (from L to R); Nani Beccalli-Falco, President & CEO, GE International; Tamas Vamos, GM Eastern Europe, GE Lighting; jury member Patrick Lambert, Director, Executive Agency Competitiveness & Innovation.
As we described in recent stories about GE’s sustainable cities work, projects such as the Hungarian lighting initiative are designed to leverage GE technologies and areas of expertise and create a coordinated solution on a large scale. It’s then hoped that successes in one city can then be applied to other cities facing similar issues. GE currently has projects in France, Italy, Spain and Hungary that are among the first to be awarded “Benchmark of Excellence” status under the European Commission’s sustainable energy technology initiative – and the winning school project is one of them. A Benchmark of Excellence is an example of world-class sustainable energy technologies in an urban setting.
Speaking on why GE won in the “Demonstration & Dissemination” category, jury member Patrick Lambert, Director, Executive Agency Competitiveness & Innovation, said it is “an excellent example of a rolling program which is self-sustaining and has a high replication potential for municipalities in other countries; [it] shows how public administration and private companies can work together to save energy; and it inspires other countries who recently joined the EU to develop fully competitive projects of a similar nature.”
* Read the announcement
* Learn more about the awards
* Learn more about EU Sustainable Energy Week
* Read the European Commission’s awards announcement
* Learn about GE’s Benchmark of Excellence projects
* Visit our Sustainable Cities website
* Learn about energy saving products
Learn more in these GE Reports stories:
* “European Alt Energy Summit: Tailoring tech by region”
* “Port of Rotterdam sailing to sustainability on tech wave”
* “GE’s “sustainable cities” road show tours Europe”
* “Google & GE call for home energy info in Copenhagen”
