Ramallah: MENA Geothermal, a leading Palestinian company that specializes in the design and installation of geothermal heating and cooling systems, has been awarded the 2011 Energy Globe Award, the world’s most prominent and prestigious environmental prize, for its geothermal heating and cooling system at the American University of Madaba, the largest geothermal heating and cooling system in the Middle East and North Africa region, with a cooling load of 1.6MWs. This is the second time MENA Geothermal has been recognized for its exceptional work with the Energy Globe Award, the first being in 2008, when it was awarded the same prize for its geothermal heating and cooling system at the UCI Headquarters Building in Ramallah, Palestine. The award honors companies and individuals for outstanding contributions in the fields of renewable energy, energy conservation, and environmental responsibility.

MENA Geothermal’s project at the American University of Madaba was one of the few projects to be recognized with the Energy Globe Award. According to the international jury that selected the national winners, 1175 projects from 115 countries applied to the award in 2011. The Award will be presented to MENA Geothermal at a ceremony in Jordan later this year by a representative of the Energy Globe Foundation.

Commenting on the second time award, Mr. Khaled Al Sabawi, MENA Geothermal’s President and UCI’s General Manager said: “Being awarded with such a prestigious prize for the second time within three years is a testimony on MENA’s outstanding qualifications and high quality systems. MENA Geothermal is dedicated to providing efficient, economical, and reliable geothermal systems for residential and commercial buildings in the Middle East and North Africa region”.

Al Sabawi added by saying: “It is an honor to be awarded such a prestigious prize, and we are very proud of our accomplishments. We thank all international organizations that have recognized our efforts and ongoing commitment to advance geothermal technology in the MENA region and especially in Palestine as it is highly dependent on the Israeli Occupation for energy supply”.

MENA Geothermal was established in 2008 by its current President, Khaled Al Sabawi, to offer energy efficient, environmentally friendly, and cost effective heating and cooling systems to citizens of the Middle East and North Africa region.

MENA Geothermal’s ongoing accomplishments are only made possible by its highly qualified engineers whom are graduates from the world’s most accredited engineering programs including the University of Waterloo in Canada and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. MENA’s engineers are the only engineers in the region that are certified as Commercial Geothermal Designers by the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition (CGC), and as Accredited Installers by the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA).