Posted: 6-10-2008
Wilkie honored with Florida Energy Achievement Award
Click here to see the original release from the FSEC
Ann Wilkie, an associate professor in the soil and water science department, has been named winner of the third annual Florida Energy Achievement Award.
The award, presented by the Florida Solar Energy Center, recognizes significant achievements in the efficient utilization of energy, energy conservation, energy education or renewable energy in the state of Florida.
The FSEC, a research institute of the University of Central Florida, is the largest and most active state-supported renewable energy and efficiency institute in the United States.
The FSEC award committee chose Wilkie for her extensive work in creating bio-energy from animal waste as well as for her leadership in promoting awareness and understanding of renewable energy and sustainable practices.
"It's an honor to recognize someone who has not only developed an innovative way of producing a viable source of renewable energy from a once unlikely source--animal waste--but has also found a way to provide Florida substantial environmental and economic benefits," said Jim Fenton, director of FSEC.
Internationally recognized as an expert in biogas technology, Wilkie routinely works with state and local officials, industrial and agricultural producers as well as private citizens to develop sustainable solutions for waste management and bioenergy production.
Wilkie "is a visionary who sees the potential to reduce our dependence on oil and other fossil fuel-based energy sources by using organic wastes and crops to produce renewable energy on a large scale," wrote Wayne H. Smith, former director of the University of Florida's Center for Biomass Energy Systems, in his nomination.
Wilkie accepted the award at the Florida Solar Energy Center in May, and presented an overview of her work. In addition to receiving the award, she will also be given permanent recognition in the energy center's complex in Cocoa.
Click here to see the original release from the FSEC
For more information about FSEC, please visit www.floridaenergycenter.org, or send your questions to info@fsec.ucf.edu.
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