UAE hosts world energy summit awarding outstanding pioneers

ABU DHABI, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) opened the World Future Energy Summit on Monday, awarding winners with the environmental prize "Zayed Future Energy Prize."

Japanese-born American professor of electronic engineering Shuji Nakamura was honored with the 500,000 U.S. dollars Zayed Future Energy Lifetime Achievement Award for his invention of the blue light-emitting diode (LED).

Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed opened the summit and awarded the winner in front over 3,000 delegates, dignitaries, students and members of the media.

The LED went into production in 1993 and is regarded as a breakthrough in energy-efficient lightning technology. Nakamura was in 2014 one of the three recipients of the Nobel Prize for Physics.

A number of schools from all continents received the Zayed Future Energy Award for the works in the fields of solar power, water technology, cooking systems and recycling.

In the category large corporation, U.S. stock-listed search engine Google was awarded for its transformation into a "carbon-neutral" company, a step the firm had taken back in 2007.

The Seldco Foundation from India won in the non-profit organization category, while Sunna Design from France was victorious in the finalists group of the small and medium term enterprises, with both entities receiving 1.5 million dollars as money award.

The Zayed Future Energy Prize was established in 2008 by the UAE government to honor the Gulf state's founder and first President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahyan and his policy on preserving the environment.

The UAE observes in 2018 the "Year of Zayed" to commemorate the 100th birthday of the former UAE president's birth year. Enditem