Global green energy awards announce international finalists for 2011

A Ghanaian project has been selected as a finalist for the Ashden Awards for
Sustainable Energy, see below for more information:

Today, the world's leading green energy prize announced that eight sustainable
energy pioneers from the African continent, India and Pakistan have been selected as
finalists for the prestigious Ashden Awards for Sustainable Energy 2011. The
finalists will compete for over £120,000 prize money. The winners will be announced
at a ceremony hosted in London on 16 June 2011.

Access to affordable clean energy is fundamental to daily life and should be a basic
right yet almost a quarter of the world's population - over 1.4 billion people -
live without access to electricity, and worldwide around 2.5 billion people still
rely on wood and charcoal for cooking. Harnessing clean, local and affordable ways
to meet the energy needs of the poor and to drive local industry is vital to any
efforts to reduce poverty and to tackle the urgent issues of climate change and
deforestation.

The 2011 Ashden Award finalists provide policy-makers, businesses and communities
across the globe with pioneering real-life examples of how this can be done through
the use of local clean energy technologies combined with clever marketing
strategies. From the production of biomass pellets from crop waste to replace coal
in India to the provision of a range of solar-powered products to off-grid
communities in Africa, these finalists prove that it is possible to meet the energy
needs of the poor in a way that radically improves lives, drives economic growth,
cuts CO2 emissions and saves trees.

Since 2001 Ashden Award winners have improved the lives of 23 million people
worldwide and together are saving over three million tonnes of CO2 a year - this
years' international finalists alone have saved over half a million tonnes of CO2,
equivalent to the CO2 emissions of 90,000 UK homes. And it doesn't stop there: all
award finalists have ambitious plans to step up their efforts and to continue in
their drive to cut carbon emissions and improve lives.

Sarah Butler-Sloss, Founder Director of the Ashden Awards said:
"Our dream is a world where access to clean, affordable electricity and fuel can be
enjoyed by the poor, transforming living standards, reducing CO2 emissions and
easing the pressure on our dwindling forests. The 2011 Ashden Award finalists are
making this vision a reality, and their potential for expansion and replication is
high. It is our sincere hope that others are inspired to enable their growth and
follow their lead".

A Ghanaian project has been selected:

Toyola Energy Ltd, Ghana for an innovative business model which has succeeded in
selling 154,000 efficient and affordable charcoal stoves to low-income families, 75
per cent of whom buy the stoves on credit and use savings on charcoal to pay cash
back. The stoves save about 26,000 tonnes of charcoal a year, and around 150,000
tonnes a year of CO2. Toyola plans to open more centres in Benin, Sierra Leone and
Nigeria in the next two years, stepping up sales to a further 140,000 stoves by
2013.

Contact
Suraj Wahab Ologburo, CEO
T: +233 2431 15898
E: toyolaenergy@yahoo.com


Contact: Carla Jones, Ashden Awards Communications Officer: T +44 (0) 20 7410 7068
or mobile: +44 (0) 791 005 4447; E
carla.jones@ashdenawards.org