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KINGSTOWN, ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
The first several of 25 winners of the IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest for Latin America and the Caribbean, sponsored by GVEP International, the Inter American Development Bank (IDB), GTZ and the Korean Government, have been announced. Among the winners so far announced is Welectricity – an online social network for energy efficiency, submitted by Green Island Inc founder Herbert A Samuel.
The IDEAS Energy Innovation Contest, launched in February under the slogan What’s your bright idea? attracted 1,082 applications, from every Latin American country (988 applications) and from nine Caribbean countries (94 applications).
The Caribbean countries were the Dominican Republic (30 applications), Jamaica (28), Haiti (19), Trinidad & Tobago (5), Barbados (4), St Lucia (3), St Vincent & The Grenadines (2), Suriname (2) and The Bahamas (1).
Two hundred and sixty four applications were shortlisted and 25 winners were selected from the shortlist; the Caribbean won three awards. GVEP International and GTZ will sponsor 20 of the 25 awards including all the awards in the Caribbean.
Ken Aldonza, a mechanical engineer from St Lucia, won sponsorship from GVEP International and GTZ for his proposal to use the waste generated by St Lucia’s banana trade to produce environmentally friendly energy by creating ethanol from banana waste.
Bob Hathaway, a naval architect from St Lucia won sponsorship from GVEP International and GTZ for his indirectly charged solar ferry, which will replace the inefficient and polluting two-stroke engines commonly used by boats in developing countries and to create a replicable technology that could significantly reduce the environmental damage to the ecosystems of small islands.
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