Global Energy Prize Winners

The Global Energy Prize is one of the world’s most respected awards in energy science, awarding 33 million rubles ($1.17m) each year for outstanding energy achievements and innovations.Dr Arthur Rosenfeld of the USA and Dr Philipp Rutberg of Russia have been presented with the 2011 Global Energy Prize, which rewards innovation and solutions in global energy research and its concurrent environmental challenges.

Philipp Rutberg Arthur Rosenfeld.

The prize will be equally shared between the two Laureates. Dr Rosenfeld was awarded for his contribution to the development of the energy efficiency sector, while Dr Rutberg was recognised for developing plasma technology which can be used to create energy from waste materials.

Dr Rosenfeld, who is 84years old, is a UC Berkeley physicist who served on the California Energy Commission for ten years, and is most well-known for his groundbreaking work in energy efficiency. In 1973 he switched his career focus from experimental nuclear and particle physics to energy efficiency because of the oil crisis. He proposed rigorous energy efficiency standards for new homes, businesses and industrial buildings in California. Moreover, he helped to develop ways to meet these standards working together with his colleagues at the Center for Building Science, which he founded at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

His technological innovations include energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs and reflective roof-coatings which reduce air-conditioning costs. In 2010 a new unit of energy conservation was named after Dr Rosenfeld. The ‘Rosenfeld’ equals 3 billion kilowatt-hours – the amount of energy savings needed to replace the output of one 500-megawatt coal-fired power plant a year.

Dr Philip Rutberg is a Member of the Russia Academy of Sciences and the Director of the Institute for Electrophysics and Electric Power is St Petersburg. Throughout his career he has worked to develop high power plasma technologies, which can convert waste materials into synthetic fuels, with minimal harmful emissions. Using this technology, a town of around 30,000 people could supply all its heating and electricity needs using domestic waste as a power source. This technology provided a single solution to both garbage disposal and energy supply. Dr Rutberg has spoken out many times against the construction of landfills, and insisted on the need to invest in science and innovation, particularly where it concerns the environment.

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