Biomass gasification company Nexterra Energy Corp. has scooped a top award for technology innovation and application.
The Vancouver-based company, whose technology converts waste biomass into clean-burning "syngas" to displace fossil fuels, won the prestigious award at GLOBE 2008, a business-environment trade fair and conference that ended in Vancouver on Friday.
Victoria's Dockside Green, a 26-building waterfront development that will use Nexterra's technology to supply heat energy, won the GLOBE award for excellence in urban sustainability.
Jonathan Rhone, Nexterra's president and CEO, said the awards demonstrated "that companies no longer have to choose between what's good for the environment and what's good for the bottom line."
Nexterra edged out Ford Motor Co. of Canada, for its work on reducing manufacturing plant emissions; Paradigm Environmental Technologies Inc. (wastewater treatment); and Trojan Technologies (water disinfection systems) to win the top award.