The "Globe energy awards" were presented by celebrities like German punk singer Nina Hagen in the northeastern city of Linz on Wednesday night in a ceremony that will soon be broadcast on television in about 100 countries.

The organisers said they wanted to create publicity for projects that seek to conserve energy to protect the environment by combatting global warming and the depletion of the earth's natural resources.

The first prize went to Solvis, an energy technology company, for its design for a "clean factory" which optimises the use of solar energy and natural light.

It uses no electricity but relies on solar heating panels and a heating system that burns vegetable oil.

According to Solvis the extra cost of its technology is recovered within 10 years because of the amount of money saved on conventional heating.

It was among 10 winners who took home 10,000 euros (11,712 dollars) and bronze statues weighing 14 kilogrammes (31 pounds) in the shape of a hand holding a globe.

One of the prizes went to the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) which plans to provide solar energy installations to 15,000 businesses in the region.

Other winners were a hydro-electrical plant built on the river Amoya in Colombia which finances environmental protection schemes and an energy-saving hotel chain in Mauritius.

The Italian actress Ornela Muti and American actor Peter Falk lent glitter to the event, which was attended by a number of Austrian politicians.

Falk advised Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian bodybuilder who became perhaps the country's most famous politician when he was elected governor of California, to come home to "pick up a few tips."

"We should be happy that the environment can benefit from such publicity," said Jurrien Westerhof from Greenpeace Austria.

He had harsh words, however, for the Alpine heartland's energy policies.

"Austria's policy runs directly counter to the objectives of the Kyoto protocol" on climate change, he said.

Austrian Environment Minister Josef Proell spoke of the damaged caused by the floods of 2002, the worst in more than a century, and the drought this year.

"We should be more prudent with our resources," he acknowledged.

"The awards handed out here tonight show that sound economics and environmental protection are not mutually exclusive."

Austria has promised to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent by 2012 from its 1990 level.

But instead it has increased by 2.7 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the European agency for the environment.

Only Belgium, Ireland, Portugal and Spain have fared worse in this regard.

SPACE.WIRE