Observer Ethical Awards Highlight New Green Energy Technologies

Those excited by news of innovative uses of ethical and green technology, particularly for renewable energy, will be interested to see the shortlist of companies and ventures up for this year’s Observer Ethical Awards.

Online voting has now closed and the shortlist of nominees is now being judged by the Observer’s expert panel, which includes the marketing manager of Ecover, the Guardian’s head of environment and a Deborah Meaden, better known as a Dragon from entrepreneur-hunting television programme Dragon’s Den.

Several awards are given, in a number of categories, on a combination of reader votes and judged by the expert panel depending on the category.  For example, there is a Big Idea category sponsored by the National Grid, which looks to reward an ethical product or service (such as ethical hosting) that has the potential to push the boundaries of sustainable innovation.

One of the shortlisted nominees for this category, Pavegen, has created a paving stone made from recycled car tyres that collects the energy from people walking on it and stores it in a battery for use in low powered applications.

Another nominee, Biogen Greenfinch, also produces energy using waste food from households, supermarkets, food manufacturers, and restaurants, using an anaerobic digestive process that turns waste food into methane gas, used to generate renewable electricity and heat, with what remains being a liquid fertiliser that is put onto the land as a substitute for other fertilisers.

Winners will be announced on June 10th.