The European Commission recognized the best projects in the field of energy efficiency, renewables and clean transport being currently implemented in Europe at a ceremony on June 24 to present the Sustainable Energy Europe & ManagEnergy Awards, held at the start of the EU’s Sustainable Energy Week.

Managed by the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI) on behalf of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy, the Sustainable Energy Europe (SEE) Award and the ManagEnergy Local Energy Action Award are complementary competitions sharing the same ultimate goal: to provide institutional recognition and increased visibility to outstanding sustainable energy initiatives.

Projects were judged in five categories – communicating, consuming, learning, living and travelling, with one project in each category receiving a reward. The winners of the category awards were:

• National Energy Foundation - SuperHomes from the UK (Communicating);
• MethaPower - Biogas Production for Regional Energy Independence from Austria (Consuming);
• Schneider Electric - Energy University from France (Learning);
• AB Alingsåshem - Brogården - Building for the Future from Sweden (Living); and
• UPM Biofuels - UPM BioVerno from Finland (Travelling).

The sixth winning project received the ManagEnergy Local Energy Action Award. Launched in 2007, the Local Energy Action Award is expressly designed to reward public authorities and energy agencies at the local and regional level that have shown outstanding achievements in the area of renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean transport.

This year’s Local Energy Action Award went to the energy self-sufficient agricultural Commune of Kisielice in Poland. The Commune of Kisielice has used revenue from wind farms on its unused agricultural land to invest in sustainable energy generation and heating systems for the community. The Commune has achieved energy self-sufficiency while providing a source of revenue for farmers, who supply waste farm residues to a biogas plant.

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