The Conventional Energy nomination was left without a laureate this year. Due to fierce competition, no candidate was able to obtain the required number of votes from the International Award Committee (IAC). The IAC consists of 16 scientists from 11 countries: China, Hungary, India, Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the United States and is chaired by Rae Kwon Chung, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
The Global Energy Prize consists of awards in three nominations; the prize fund of 430,000 USD is divided proportionally among the laureates. As this year there are two laureates, the fund would be split evenly between them.
Taking into account that this year Conventional Energy nomination was left without a winner, the Global Energy Association decided to award the annual Honorary Diploma in this field. It will be awarded to Serbian veteran researcher Ljubivoje Popovic for the development of a methodology to determine the characteristics of high-voltage and extra-high voltage cable lines.
About the 2023 laureates:
Zhong Lin Wang (China) – Non-Conventional Energy
The award is for the invention of triboelectric nanogenerators as a new energy technology for autonomous systems, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, and large-scale blue energy harvesting.
Ruzhu Wang (China) – New Ways of Energy Application
The award is for research in sorption cooling, which has significantly improved the technology of using low-grade thermal energy to create high-efficiency cooling and for a significant contribution to the development of a dehumidifier-based heat pump, which doubled the energy efficiency of cooling and heating.
“The research made by the 2023 laureates highly contributes to the development of off-grid energy supply and energy efficiency. The future of the energy transition largely depends on the success of these fields. This once again underlines how thin is the line between fundamental science and the real world of energy,” said Rae Kwon Chung, the Head of the International Committee.
