Read the judge's green questionnaire on CAT

What is it: visitor centre, research and residential centre for demonstration and education of alternative energies (on the site of an old slate quarry).

Pride of place is the hydro-powered lift that takes you from ticket-office 50 metres up to the Centre where there are hundreds of exhibitions that cover just about every eco technology under the sun, from solar thermals to wind turbines and vast woodchip boilers, with an emphasis on how these technologies can be installed for every day use in the home and on a larger scale.

Number of annual visitors: 63,000 day visitors (about 500 overnight stays in its eco cabins)

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• Gallery: Centre for Alternative Technology, Wales

Need to know: The nearest train station is three miles away at Machynlleth. Half price admission if you arrive by public transport.

Further information: for info on getting there by train, bus and on foot, as well as courses, membership, events and local accommodation at www.cat.org.uk - Tel: 01654 705950. Adults: £8.40, children under 15: £4.20, under 5s: free.

Summary: Wow. I think CAT has a reputation as being a hippy eccentric place where boffins tinker with technology, perhaps that was true 30 years ago when it was founded but now it is modern and cutting edge, with so many practical solutions it makes you come away thinking “I could easily do that at home”.

As far as its eco credentials are concerned you can hardly fault it.

Just a few stand outs: there are 63,000 visitors a year yet all its electricity and heating is provided by alternative energies; they have had over 180,000 downloads of their free sustainability fact sheets; their eco cabins demonstrate what a green place to stay should be: powered by alternative energy, compost loos, rainwater harvesting.

Though I found one fault: the towels and bedding in the eco cabins are not fair trade/organic. But you get the drift.

Another plus point that might separate it from the rest is the excellent signage – that will please the ‘ecotourism’ aficionados and it’s also just incredibly useful when you’re wandering around trying to figure out what everything is. And you can buy a CAT train ticket from a station almost anywhere in the UK, which will give you half price discount on entrance.

Also, it's worth mentioning that it is in a lovely woodland setting, with lots of good forest walks - so it doesn't have to be just an educational, it's a great place to go just for a day's stroll.

NOMINATED BY: to me Centre For Alternative Technologyit embodies almost everything this award is about - it is a sustainable, modest site and organisation, rooted in its local community, original, bold, open to all, and in a truly beautiful location. The only possible drawback is the travel impact of getting there. But then, why should the big cities have everything? Its nice that somewhere small can be big in this unique, very special way.

Everything is built to develop and promote the principles of low footprint sustainable living, whether to day visitors, to school groups taking a short course, or advanced degree students. It reaches out to and inspires everyone. The core of the work is carried out by the community who live locally permanently, but its inclusive and open nature means that many additional people volunteer through the year. So, in a sense, its community is at least nationwide. And through its policies towards suppliers and so on, it is growing its approach into a sustainable ecosystem.

And of course its approach is to use technology. No rose tinted 'back to nature' wishfulness here. Rather real, practical development. Finally, it is in a gorgeous green space, close to soaring mountains, wild valleys, and a coast where if you are lucky you will see the other kind of Whales. To me, with such a heart and such a head, there can be no more deserving recipient - Michael Coupar, Preston, Lancs

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