Given his leading reputation as internationally award winning innovator and ambassador for renewables, Professor Martin Tangney has been invited as a special guest by the Saudi Arabian government and oil company Saudi Aramco to be the Keynote speaker at a major international sustainability conference in Saudi Arabia this week.
While out in Saudi Arabia, Martin will meet with key local political and industrial figures to discuss environmental sustainability. Despite their massive oil reserves, Saudi Arabia has recently turned to look at renewables with significant investment in renewables and waste management in Saudi being seen in recent years.
His Royal Highness Governor of Al-Ahsa, Prince Bander bin Mohammed bin Jalawi and the Minister of Agriculture, Fahad bin Abdul Rahman Balghunaim, will both be attending the opening ceremony to hear Martin’s speech.
Martin, a finalist in the 'Champion of renewables' category at this year’s Scottish Green Energy awards for his work in promoting biofuel, has said: "I am honoured to be the keynote speaker, this reflects the tremendous international reputation of our work at the Scottish Biofuel Research Centre and Edinburgh Napier University."
Martin is the Director of the Scottish Biofuel Programme. The Programme is funded by the Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise and the European Regional Development Fund. It provides Scottish SMEs seeking alternative routes or to derive further value of business by-products and wastes via sustainable bioenergy production with access to research expertise benefitting business and the environment. The programme is partnership of five leading Scottish research institutions and is hosted by the Biofuel Research Centre whose world-leading research lead to the creation of the award winning University spin-out company Celtic Renewables who use waste from the Scottish Malt Whisky industry and turn it into biobutanol, a superior next generation biofuel.
For more information on the conference you can visit the Agricultural Waste & Environment Protection website.