Students Win Energy Contest

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Some local college students are well on their way to owning a green, high-tech company. The first step was winning a big competition.

The University of Michigan and DTE Energy created the Clean Energy Prize competition to fuel innovative ideas and the entrepreneurial spirit. Masco Corporation and The Kresge Foundation are also major sponsors.

"We've got a big change out in technology that's coming for us over the next twenty to thirty years and we need innovations in technology," said DTE Energy CEO Gerry Anderson.

Excitement and anticipation filled the room as students waited anxiously with a title and big money on the line. Several rounds of competition took 23 teams down to just three. The first place winners received a glass trophy and a check for $65,000.00.

24-year-old Bobby Levine, a Ph.D. candidate, is one of four young men who make up Algal Scientific. Their winning idea involved converting waste water into clean water, growing algae in the process and using it to make biofuel.

"We can turn the algae into ethanol because it's made of a special kind of sugar that's useful for ethanol production," said Levine.

The students say the competition is just the beginning. Now, they will take the money and their award-winning idea into the real world.

"We're hoping to become incorporated and begin research at a Michigan biotech incubator," Levine said.