Feb. 22, 2011

A team of four dual-degree SNRE students took second place last week in the Clean Energy Prize contest for their master's project. Team Smart Energy—Andrew Lubershane, who is completing a master's in applied economics in addition to a degree at SNRE, and Erb students Mike Elchinger, Ryan Flynn, and Graham Brown—won $25,000 for a plan that uses an innovative financing model to retrofit municipal buildings for energy efficiency savings. Their master's project client is the Clean Energy Coalition. The group has also received a $50,000 grant from the Ford Motor Company to support implementation of their business plan over the summer.

"On a local level, with cities facing historic budget shortfalls, energy efficiency is an excellent opportunity to trim costs without cutting essential staff or services," Lubershane said. "Unfortunately, most small-to-mid-sized cities don't have the staff time or expertise to link the technical and financial sides of energy efficiency investment." 

Gov. Rick Snyder spoke at the awards ceremony Friday at the University of Michigan's Rackham Auditorium. The Clean Energy Prize was established by DTE Energy and U-M in 2008 and is designed to encourage entrepreneurship in Michigan and the development of clean-energy technologies.