25 winners from 14 countries across the three categories have been awarded this year's edition of the energy efficiency awards which is managed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission's in-house science arm.

These award schemes are part of three JRC programmes aiming to encourage organisations in both public and private sectors to cut energy consumption by using innovative and energy efficient technologies. The three programmes between them save more than 837,000 MWh of electricity each year – roughly equivalent to the total consumption of all households in Luxembourg.

Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, congratulated the award winners “by applying innovative technologies to boost energy efficiency, they are benefitting both themselves and society in general. Energy efficiency is key to tackling climate change but it is also a prerequisite for unlocking sustainable growth and jobs, reducing dependency on oil and gas imports and moving towards renewables. That is why energy efficiency is one of our top priorities under both current and future EU research and innovation programmes”.

The participation to this award is voluntary and more than 1,000 participants throughout Europe have taken part in these three programmes. Award criteria are based on both innovation and energy efficiency, i.e. energy saving technologies used and the sector they belong to: public buildings, retail, offices… This prizes are awarded in the "EU Sustainable Energy Week”.