RETScreen creator a finalist at “Green Oscars”
London, 21.09.2009 - REEEP International Secretariat
Gregory J. Leng, creator of RETScreen, the free Canadian green project management software, was one of three finalists for the Leadership Award at the Euromoney and Ernst & Young Global Renewable Energy Awards. These awards, which have been dubbed the “Green Oscars” recognise projects, companies and individuals who have made a significant contribution to the global renewable energy sector.
Leng is the Director of the RETScreen Clean Energy Project Analysis Software at Natural Resources Canada’s CanmetENERGY centre in Varennes, Quebec. He specialises in the clean energy market, technology and finance interface and has been working in the renewable energy and energy efficiency fields for the past 24 years. RETScreen is his brainchild. It is a comprehensive decision-making software tool that helps engineers, architects and financial planners evaluate the financial viability of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies (RETs) and reduces the transaction costs (in both money and time) associated with identifying and assessing potential projects.
There are now more than 215,000 RETScreen users in 222 countries and territories, growing at 1,000 new users weekly. 201 colleges and universities worldwide use the tool for training and research. RETScreen has been directly responsible for over $4 billion in user savings globally, a number expected to grow to well over $8 billion by 2012.
“As a targeted intervention in the clean energy sector, RETScreen has delivered a major global impact in accelerating renewable energy, spurring the implementation of energy efficiency measures, and contributing to a sustainable and clean energy future. This is the kind of project we are truly proud to support,” said Marianne Osterkorn, Director General of REEEP.
With REEEP funding, RETScreen has been made available gratis in 35 languages covering 2/3rds of the world's population. REEEP is also currently funding an additional monitoring, targeting and verification tool for the software. "Our partnership with REEEP has been a critical part of RETScreen's success internationally and has helped us rapidly accelerate the diffusion of this technology around the world, and in particular, in countries such as Brazil, China and India," said Leng.
The award ceremony took place during the 2009 London Renewable Energy Finance Forum (REFF), a gathering of 400 financiers, public sector players and other stakeholders in the financing of renewables. The conference was the renewable finance sector’s first large-scale discussion of the EU Renewable Energy Directive agreed in December 2008, and its first major event since the financial crisis began a year ago.