MEDIA RELEASE PR41753
Top Scientists Asking International Media for World's Toughest Questions
Wellington, New Zealand, Oct. 14 /NZPA-AsiaNet/ --
Organisers of the 2011 Global Energy Prize are inviting international journalists to submit "the world's toughest
questions" to a global panel of eminent scientists with an unsurpassed collective knowledge in the field of
energy.
The Global Energy Prize, was established in 2002 by a group of Russian scientists, with the support of major
energy corporations worldwide. Each year it awards close to US$1 million for outstanding achievement in the
field of energy for the benefit of humanity.
This year the International Awards Committee seeks to broaden public interest through a global media
program designed to stimulate debate and discussion on our energy future. Its program "The world's
smartest people answer the world's toughest questions" creates a platform for the world's leading energy
scientists to engage in questions such as:
.
What will happen to us?
.
Are all forms of energy morally viable?
.
How can we harness the energy expended by humans?
.
By the time the earth is exhausted, will it matter anyway?
.
Is there such a thing as global warming, or can we only talk about global temperature cycles?
.
Is it possible to completely replace fossil energy sources with renewable ones?
You can participate in this program in two ways:
1. Email holly.mcclune@sweeneyvesty.com seeking an opportunity to ask the tough questions of one
or more of the International Awards Committee (see details of some of the scientists involved in the attached
media advisory) through a one-on-one telephone interview. We can facilitate interviews for you with these
scientists from 18 October to 30 November 2010. As this is an international initiative, the scientists may be
unable to respond to all interview requests. Priority will be given to those journalists who request interviews
first. Please respond to this email today!
2. Send holly.mclune@sweeneyvesty.com no more than three of your "toughest questions". These will
be sent on to the International Awards Committee who will select 20 of the world's toughest questions to be
answered by an expert panel at an online symposium during the Laureate's Week preceding the prize
ceremony in St. Petersburg, Russia in June 2011. Details of the final top 20 questions - and the panel
members who will respond to these - will be sent to all participating journalists in April 2011. Additionally, all
journalists who submit questions will be sent an invitation and registration details to participate in the online
event.
Please read the attached media backgrounder for more information. If you have any additional questions, or
wish to participate in the program, please contact me at holly.mcclune@sweeneyvesty.com.
Kind regards,
MEDIA ALERT
15 October 2010
GLOBAL ENERGY PRIZE
The world's smartest people tackle the world's toughest questions
The Global Energy Prize, which each year awards close to US$1 million for outstanding scientific achievement
in the field of energy for the benefit of humanity, this year seeks to broaden public understanding through an
opt-in global media program designed to promote discussion on our energy future.
Members of the International Award Committee available from this month to answer the media's "toughest
questions" include:
Dr Alvin W. Trivelpiece - a physicist and former director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the
Department of Energy's world leading research and manufacturing park with approximately 13,000 employees.
Dr Trivelpiece was head of the 1986 US Delegation on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy to the USSR and was
an early supporter of the Human Genome Project.
Dr Tom Sanders - the manager of the Global Nuclear Futures Program at Sandia National Laboratories, and
president of the American Nuclear Society from 2009-2010. Dr Sanders is a member of the US Department of
Commerce's Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee, and has advised senior government officials on the
development of nuclear energy in the USA.
Dr Clement Bowman - founding chairman of the Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority
(AOSTRA), and pioneered Canada's oil sands extraction project. For his work in this field Dr Bowman was
awarded a Global Energy Prize in 2008.
Tom Blees - author of "Prescription for the Planet", which explains how a trio of revolutionary technologies
could springboard humanity to an era beyond energy scarcity, with a particular focus on properly regulated
nuclear power provided by Integral Fast Reactors. He co-founded a charitable organisation to provide safe
water supplies to villagers in Central America, and it was during the course of fundraising for this project that
Mr Blees came across the technologies examined in his book.
Dr Klaus Riedle - a world specialist in the sphere of gas turbine energetics and head of the Scientific
Developments Department for high-temperature energetic turbines at Siemens. He was awarded the Global
Energy Prize in 2005 for his extensive work in the development of powerful high-temperature gas turbines for
steam and gas power plants.
Dr Robert Aymar - former Director-General of CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, one of
the largest and most respective science research centres in the world. In this role he oversaw the completion
and first experiments of the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator designed to recreate the conditions
just after the Big Bang.
To seek an opportunity to ask your toughest questions to a committee member, please reply to:
Holly McClune
+64 9 309 1494
holly.mcclune@sweeneyvesty.com
About the Global Energy Prize
The Global Energy Prize was established in 2002 by a group of Russian scientists, with the support of major
energy corporations. This international award is granted for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of
energy which have proved of benefit to the entire human race. Since its inception, the award has been granted
to 22 scientists from Great Britain, Iceland, Canada, Russia, the USA, Ukraine, France, Germany and Japan.
Awarded annually, the prize fund amounts to 30 million roubles (approximately $1m USD) and is divided
among the Laureates. The President of the Russian Federation participates in the awards ceremony held in St
Petersburg each year, which is accompanied by a Laureates' Week celebrating the work of the winning
scientists.
SOURCE: Greg Fahey Global Energy Prize
NEWS 
