Ashden awards for sustainable development

Renewable energy pioneers from Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Tanzania were among the winners of this year's Ashden Awards for Sustainable Development. Kerala-based ngo Biotech was adjudged the winner in the Food Security category. It bagged the 30,000 pounds (us $60,000) prize for developing biogas plants that use food waste to generate gas for cooking. The Karnataka-based skg Sangha bagged the second prize of 10,000 pounds (us $20,000) in the same category for improving the lives of rural communities by supplying them with dung-based biogas plants for cooking and a specially-designed unit that turns the slurry from the biogas plant into quality fertiliser. There was also an award of 15,000 pounds (us $30,000) for another Indian company, Selco, which gives affordable solar power systems to the poor.

The awards were founded in 2001 by the uk- based Ashden Trust and are awarded each year to projects that can benefit communities and be expanded to boost sustainable development.