Arthur Rosenfeld, hailed the “godfather of energy efficiency,” was yesterday named the winner of the second Tang Prize in sustainable development for his “lifelong and pioneering innovations in energy efficiency.”
A renowned US physicist, energy expert and former commissioner of the California Energy Commission, Rosenfeld’s promotion of energy efficiency technologies, standards and initiatives since the 1970s has made California a leader in energy conservation.
The Tang Prize is awarded to Rosenfeld “for his lifelong and pioneering innovations in energy efficiency resulting in immense reductions in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions around the world,” Nobel laureate Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), who chairs the Tang Prize Selection Committee, read from the citation at a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
Rosenfeld, 90, is to receive a cash prize of NT$40 million (US$1.24 million) and a research grant of up to NT$10 million to be used within five years, as well as a medal and a certificate.
Lee said that Rosenfeld was named the winner with two others still in the running because he had the backing of more than half of the 24 judges.
“He received overwhelming support,” said Lee, a former head of Academia Sinica.
Lee said that more than 100 people from various disciplines were nominated for the award this year and the list was pared down to 20 by selection committee members for the 24-member jury to review.
When the candidates are narrowed down to the final three, it normally requires two more rounds of voting to determine a winner, Lee said, but with Rosenfeld such a clear-cut front-runner, there was no need for additional votes.
Lee said Rosenfeld is more than just a physicist as his ideas have influenced policies in the US and helped carry out carbon reduction measures.
Rosenfeld’s contributions to energy efficiency and conservation have seen two terms coined using his name.
The Rosenfeld effect describes how per-capita electricity use in California stayed relatively flat from the mid-1970s to the mid-2000s, while it rose 40 percent in the rest of the US over the same period.
The other term, known simply as the “Rosenfeld,” was proposed by a group of leading scientists in 2010 to represent electricity savings of 3 billion kilowatt-hours per year.
Rosenfeld received the National Medal of Technology and Innovation from US President Barack Obama in 2013 in honor of his “extraordinary leadership in the development of energy-efficient building technologies and related standards and policies.”
Born in Alabama in 1926, Rosenfeld began his career in experimental particle physics before changing his focus to energy after the oil crisis of the 1970s.
He formed the Center for Building Science at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and served as its director from 1986 to 1994.
The center developed groundbreaking energy efficiency technologies such as low emissivity “smart windows” and high-frequency electronic ballasts for compact fluorescent lighting.
Rosenfeld also developed computer programs to analyze a building’s energy use.
A US National Academy of Sciences study in 2001 showed that Rosenfeld’s initiatives and innovations will have prevented 7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and saved US$1.8 trillion in energy costs by 2030.
Tang Prize Foundation CEO Chern Jenn-chuan (陳振川) said he hopes the prize will mobilize the government and the public to build a more sustainable future.
The Tang Prize was established in 2012 by entrepreneur Samuel Yin (尹衍樑) to complement the Nobel Prize and to honor top researchers and leaders in four fields: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and rule of law.
The first Tang Prize was awarded in 2014.
Tang Prize winners are selected based on the originality and effect of their achievements, irrespective of nationality or ethnicity.
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