School lands $100,000 prize with bright thinking

A school in China won high recognition in the Zayed Sustainability Prize awards ceremony held on December 1 at the 28th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Dubai. Beijing No 35 High School’s students Tang Yingxi, 17, and Jiang Huanlin, 18, along with their teacher Peng Minjie, won the Global High School awards in the East Asia and Paci˛ic categories for their vacuum glass solar, or photovoltaic panels. The panels can insulate heat and sound, and generate electricity simultaneously. They can also be applied to electric cars to generate power in emergencies, according to a video made available by the Zayed Sustainability Prize. Tang told China Daily the prize money of $100,000 will be used to replace some of the window panes at the school as a test run to get test data one year later. The data will be used “to improve our products and make them bigger”, he said.

Jiang said his role was mainly to construct the new glass for data collection and observation. Peng said the award could not have come at a better time because this year the school has been celebrating the centenary of its founding.

“At first we thought we would not win because I had heard what previous winners had said about their products that had benefitted so many people. And ours would benefit just 1,000 (in our school).”

She said she thinks one possible reason for Tang’s and Jiang’s success lies in the importance of designing new materials for the school. Visiting the UAE for the first time, Peng and her students met the President, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who presented the awards to the 11 winners covering six categories at a ceremony attended by high-level guests. Other winners included Kelp Blue of Namibia in the climate change category. Its creation has contributed to the restoration of the natural ocean by cultivating seaweed in deep waters.

In the health section, Indonesia’s doctorSHARE, a nonprofit group dedicated to expanding healthcare access in remote regions, received the award for creating floating hospitals.

For more than 15 years the prize has improved the lives of 384 million people worldwide through the innovative solutions presented by its 106 winners.