Huang, a Chinese entrepreneur also known as Solar King, was awarded the prize, dubbed as the "Alternative Nobels," by the Sweden-based Right Livelihood Foundation on Thursday.

He became the first Chinese citizen to receive the prize for "his outstanding success in the development and mass-deployment of cutting-edge technologies for harnessing solar energy," the prize committee said in a statement.

He thus showed "how dynamic emerging economies can contribute to resolving the global crisis of anthropogenic climate change," said the jury in a citation. ' "As a Chinese citizen, I feel very proud to be awarded the prize, which is themed with environmental protection and sustainable development," said Huang, who is visiting Denmark, via email on Friday.

"It shows that Chinese new energy enterprises are stepping onto the world stage and playing a more important role in the global new energy industry," Huang said.

Monika Griefahn, a board member of the foundation, said Huang, as an entrepreneur, has been advocating and promoting the use of renewable energies and the development of a low-carbon society, thus making his contribution in dealing with the global warming crisis.

Huang said his "green dreams" were implanted during his early years of study in college when his teacher told him that petroleum would be exhausted within scores of years, and China's petroleum resources would last even shorter.

The worries over the exhaustion of conventional fossil fuels have driven him into the research and exploration for solar energy as an alternative.

Huang set up his Himin Solar Corp. in 1995, and the company has now become a pioneer in the field of solar thermal energy with products ranging from solar water heaters and solar collectors to solar power generation and solar air-conditioning.

Himin Solar sells 3 million square meters of solar panels for water heaters annually, equivalent to the total amount produced in the European Union and twice that of North America, according to the company's website www.himin.com.

The solar water heaters produced by Himin and other Chinese manufacturers of solar heating facilities over the past decade have enabled more than 50 million families in the world to get access to clean hot water, the company said.

Huang also set up a Solar Valley in the city of Dezhou in eastern Shandong province, where his company is headquartered.

The valley, with an area of 330 hectares, is composed of a solar thermal manufacturing base, an automatic production line of evacuated tubes, a solar museum, a demonstration area for solar architecture and a solar testing center.

The valley was a national and global example for solar as a realistic alternative to fossil and nuclear energy and rising CO2 emissions, the award committee said in a statement.

Founded in 1980 by Swedish philatelist Jakob von Uexkull, the Right Livelihood Awards are presented annually to "honor and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today."

Three other winners of this year's award are Jacqueline Moudeina from Chad, Ina May Gaskin from the United States, and the international organization GRAIN.

The four winners will share a 150,000-euro (205,100 U.S. dollars) cash prize.