DTE Energy, U-M announce finalists for Clean Energy Prize Competition

There are now three finalists for the Clean Energy Prize, a competition sponsored by Detroit's DTE Energy and Ann Arbor's University of Michigan.

The idea behind the competition is to help move clean energy technologies from the laboratory to commercial production. Each of the three finalists will share in a $100,000 prize pool that will help the start-ups capitalize on their ideas.

The three finalists include:

- Algal Scientific, which creates turn-key water treatment systems that combine wastewater treatment with biofuel production using algal growth bioreactors and proprietary processing technology.

- Husk, which converts agricultural waste into thin, high-grade insulation for the refrigeration industry. This delivers a significant improvement over conventional, petroleum-based insulation.

- Ikanos Power, which makes flexible-fuel-electricity-generation products for use in military, trucking, and distributed power markets.

A close fourth place was SITumbra, which proposed a rigid solar shading window system configured to respond to seasonal variations with optimal energy efficiency. It received a $3,400 prize.

First place receives the lion's share of the prize money, $65,000. Second place gets $21,000 while third place receives $3,400. The winners will be announced on March 20. Twenty three teams comprised the original field of applicants.

Source: DTE Energy
Writer: Jon Zemke