DATE: 3:30-4:30 p.m., March 20, 2009.

EVENT: Three finalist teams of student entrepreneurs competing for the top Clean Energy Prize will make a 3-minute pitch to a panel of judges, who will then select the winner. The teams with winning ideas will share $100,000 in prize money. The first-place team will receive $65,000.

Finalist teams are listed here.

• Algal Scientific Corp. has developed a wastewater treatment system that uses algae to both remove nutrients from contaminated water and produce the raw materials for biofuels. In the team’s product, algae would take up nutrients at wastewater treatment plants in a more economical and environmentally friendly way than the current state of the art. Then, the nutrient-packed algae would be harvested and sent to a plant to be converted directly to biofuels. Team members say their product addresses clean water and clean energy concerns.

• Husk is a start-up with a plan to convert plant-based agricultural waste into high-grade insulation initially for the refrigeration industry, but later for refrigerated transportation and housing. Their product is a fraction of the thickness of conventional insulation. To achieve the insulation levels the government mandates for commercial refrigerators, you would need four to five inches of conventional insulation, team members say. Just half an inch of Husk’s product achieves comparable insulation.

• Ikanos Power has a plan to produce efficient, portable and fuel-flexible electric power generators for use on vehicles such as military tanks and tractor-trailers. Their generators would be 30 to 3,000 percent more fuel efficient than current alternatives, team members say. Today, such vehicles must idle their engines when they’re not moving to power auxiliary systems such as heat, lighting and navigation equipment. Ikanos’ generators could run on 10 fuels including gasoline, vegetable oil, jet fuel, biofuels and plant waste.

DTE Energy and the University of Michigan established the competition last year, to challenge teams from Michigan colleges and universities to develop the best business plan for bringing a new clean energy technology to market.

PLACE: Stamps Auditorium in the Walgreen Drama Center at 1226 Murfin Ave., Ann Arbor on U-M’s North Campus. Map

Passes for parking in the nearby blue lots will be distributed by student volunteers in the circle drive at that main entrance for the Walgreen Drama Center. Map

SPONSORS: University of Michigan, DTE Energy, the MASCO Corporation Foundation and the Kresge Foundation.

U-M Sustainability fosters a more sustainable world through collaborations across campus and beyond aimed at educating students, generating new knowledge, and minimizing our environmental footprint. Learn more at sustainability.umich.edu.