Berlin. The new prizewinners of the German Environmental Award have been nominated. Presented by Federal President Johannes Rau the eco-entrepreneur Dr Franz Ehrnsperger (55, Neumarkt) and the scientists Dr Wolfgang Feist (47, Darmstadt) and Professor Hermann Auernhammer (60, Freising) will be receiving Europe's best-endowed environmental award, worth DM 1 million on October, 21 in Freiburg. Europe's largest environmental foundation, the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) thus will be honouring Dr Ehrnsperger for his achievement to establish an integral ecological management programme, Dr Feist for his pioneering spirit in developing passive house technology and Professor Auernhammer as a forerunner of ecofriendly farming by using modern information technologies, the foundation's Secretary General Fritz Brickwedde said in Berlin today.

Before a group of journalists Brickwedde honoured Professor Auernhammer, Department for Biogenetic Raw Materials and Technologies in agriculture of the TU Munich, as founder of ecofriendly farming where modern technology facilitated a regulation of weeds and fertilization geared to smallest sites. The possibilities of this modern agriculture were so precise and subtly differentiated that over-fertilization and a surplus of nutrients became virtually impossible. This "precision farming" was not only the essential basis for an improved protection of the ground water. It also definitely reduced the threat to biodiversity and contributed considerably to environmental protection. Brickwedde: "Thanks to Professor Auernhammer farming is measurable and checkable today and practically relevant standards could be achieved."

The achievement of Dr Franz Ehrnsperger, head of the Bavarian brewery Neumarkter Lammsbräu, were pioneering as well. He was one of the most important forerunners of entrepreneurial eco-management and "a prime example for the symbiosis of economy and ecology", underlined Brickwedde. Against the pronounced scepticism of numerous critics he constantly developed the idea of ecology from the early 70s without submitting to short-lived trends or conventional market pressure.

In doing so he first of all had to create functional structures facilitating him to apply his motto that "the purity law regulating the production of beer already starts on the field". He had to convince the local farmers to switch from conventional to ecological farming when no ecologically-minded farmer could be found in the whole administrative district at that time, but he managed to create new jobs and contributed to the region's structural improvement. Not only the ecological production of beer or soft drinks was an achievement of Dr Ehrnsperger. He uncompromisingly removed all other ecological weak points from his enterprise.

Whether solar energy installations for the malt house, ecological refrigeration plants, reuse of waste heat, consistent use of rain water, return of waste from hops and malt into agriculture, conversion of the own fleet to a vegetable oil-operated one, development of a waste-free purification and filtration procedure for beer or ban of unnecessary detergents and disinfectants - all that stands for a consistent commitment to environmental protection. Recent project was a beer wort boiling procedure with an energy reduction of 70% compared with conventional methods. Brickwedde: "The way of Lammsbräu is absolutely necessary for our society and proves that ecology is long-term economy."

Dr Wolfgang Feist, head of the Passive House Institute (PHI) in Darmstadt he had founded himself a few years ago, also set an example. Passive houses are highly insulated buildings with an annual heating energy consumption of less than 15 kilowatt hours per square meter where radiators or central heating systems are no longer required. Dr Feist succeeded with a pioneer work of more than 20years and convinced the experts on the basis of his outstanding scientific work about the ecological and economical, health relevant and architectural advantages of the passive house technology and launched this concept to the market as well. Brickwedde: "In doing so he facilitated a quantitative leap for the development of energy-saving buildings."

That became even more obviously when considering that private households in Germany are responsible for 28% of the whole energy consumption with the lion's share of 76% out of this for central heating. Whilst the emission of carbon dioxide in Germany could had been reduced by 15.5% during the last 10 years it simultaneously increased by 6% within private households. It spoke well for the outstanding results of Dr Feist who succeeded in decreasing the annual need for heating energy to 15 kilowatt hours per square meter by means of the passive house technology, corresponding to a consumption of 1.5 litres heating oil. Conventional houses need on average 200 kilowatt hours per year and square meter, low-energy houses still between 30 and 70.

That his idea worked and that houses do not need any additional heating system Dr Feist showed with a passive energy house in Darmstadt-Kranichstein, with passive housing estates in Wiesbaden and at the Kronsberg in Hanover. Brickwedde: "According to the experience of more than 1,000 passive energy houses the idea has been accepted and works. It is not a type but a standard of construction, applicable for virtually all buildings without demanding any considerable restrictions for architects or clients. The passive energy house technology offers good prospects to become the future standard for new buildings."