From a total of 170 entries received in the 10th anniversary year of the Prize, three individuals leading environmental projects across the world have been shortlisted for the prestigious 2008 St Andrews Prize for the Environment

An environmental initiative by the University of St Andrews in Scotland, and the international integrated energy company, ConocoPhillips, the aim of the Prize is to find practical solutions to environmental challenges from around the globe.

Sir Crispin Tickell, Chairman of the St Andrews Prize for the Environment Trustees, said: “We are delighted that the Prize has become so well established and in this, our 10th anniversary year, continues to attract such a range of innovative projects from all over the world. We are very much looking forward to meeting the finalists and hearing about their projects which are helping to make the world a better place.”

The finalists’ presentations will be heard at St Andrews University next month and the winner announced on 13 May.

This year’s finalists are:

The Elephant Toilet
The Elephant Toilet provides an innovative and sustainable sanitation solution which could benefit millions of people across Africa, and beyond. It benefits from simple design and construction, which can be adapted to use local building materials, and in which local communities can be easily trained. 

FOODTUBES™
Still at the concept stage, the aim of the FOODTUBES™ project is to design and build an energy saving pipeline capsule goods transportation system. Transporting food by pipelines, rather than by road, could save billions of litres of fuel per year, preserve the countryside, reduce street level pollution and global warming gases, and free up congested roads. 

Slow Pyrolysis Technology
The slow pyrolysis process has risen to today’s global greenhouse challenge by being the only technology to remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it emits – a world first for energy generation technology.

Slow pyrolysis provides sustainable energy solutions by converting waste material into clean electricity and heat for local consumption, a high quality soil amendment with proven agricultural benefits, and by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Notes

Now in its 10th year, the St Andrews Prize for the Environment has attracted entries on topics as diverse as sustainable development in the Amazon rainforest, urban re-generation, recycling, health and water issues and renewable energy.

Submissions are assessed by a panel of Trustees representing science, industry and government, with the award going to the project the Trustees consider displays the best combination of good science, economic realism and political acceptability.

The winner receives $75,000 and a medal, and the two runners-up each receive $25,000.

All you need to know about the Prize at www.thestandrewsprize.com

Contact
For further media information, photographs, and to arrange interviews please contact Doug Allsop or Dick Mutch at:

Barker Mearns and Gill Public Relations
7 Carden Place
Aberdeen
AB10 1 PP
Tel +44 1224 646311.  Fax +44 1224 631882
Email doug@mearns-gill.com; dick@mearns-gill.com

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