Status: 05.09.2022 10:30 a.m
Some developed energy-saving propulsion technology for ships, others fought against the destruction of the wilderness. Two engineers and a biologist receive the German Environmental Prize. The honorary award goes to two women.
Two engineers and a biologist share the German Environmental Prize 2022. The Hamburg engineering duo Friedrich Mewis and Dirk Lehmann have developed energy-saving propulsion technology for large ships. The invention is “a Daniel jet engine moment for shipbuilding”, which saves not only fuel and energy but also greenhouse gases, explained the Secretary General of the German Federal Environmental Foundation, Alexander Bonde.
With the development of a more efficient propulsion system for large, slow ships, including container ships, environmentally harmful greenhouse gases amounting to around twelve million tons of carbon dioxide have been saved worldwide since their introduction in 2008.
The 79-year-old Mewis has been working with the 58-year-old Lehmann in Hamburg since 2001. Thanks to their development of the so-called Becker Mewis Duct, the consumption of heavy fuel oil has been reduced by up to 10 percent. Thanks to the technology, the noise pollution for marine animals such as whales is also lower.
This year’s winners Dirk Lehmann, Christof Schenck and Friedrich Mewis.
Image: dpa
“A Fighter for the Wild”
The biologist Christof Schenck, Managing Director of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, is being honored for his commitment to large national parks in the tropical rainforests of the Amazon, the Congo Basin and Southeast Asia. Schenck is a “fighter for the wilderness”.
The 60-year-old wants to protect the “biodiversity hotspots from being attacked by economic interests in the long term and at the same time ensure sustainable development and financial security for the local population,” said the Federal Environmental Foundation. The German Environmental Award is endowed with a total of 500,000 euros.
They were awarded the honorary prize of the German Federal Foundation for the Environment: Myriam Rapior from the environmental association BUND (l) and Kathrin Muus, former federal chairwoman of rural youth.
Image: dpa
Honorary award for farmer and environmentalist
On the occasion of the 30th award of the prize this year, an honorary prize will also be awarded to a young farmer and a young environmentalist: Myriam Rapior from the environmental association BUND and Kathrin Muus as the former federal chairwoman of the rural youth would have campaigned with their work at the “Future Commission for Agriculture” Overcoming the infighting between environmental protection and agriculture and building bridges between environment and agriculture, said Bonde. Both receive 10,000 euros each from the foundation for their work.
The prizes are to be presented by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Magdeburg on October 30th.