UPDATE: Okay, the problem was that the Obama administration was installing a new version of its main Recovery website. The new site does look better and those who have poked around it more than I have say it offers more transparency.

The DOE made announcements this week about several new grants and loans. These include

  • A $528.7 million loan to Fisker Automotive for two lines of luxury plug-in hybrids. $169.3 million is supposed to be allocated to manufacturing process improvements and engineering integration costs related to U.S. suppliers for the Fisker Karma. The Karma is supposed to go on sale in mid-2010. Another $359.36 million of the loan is earmarked for Fisker’s Project Nina, aimed at another generation of hybrids that are supposed to hit the market in 2012. DOE says it will be making additional loans under this program over the coming months.
  • $106 million to in funding for Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia the development of an energy efficiency and conservation strategy, energy efficiency audits and retrofits, transportation programs, the creation of financial incentive programs for energy efficiency improvements, the development and implementation of advanced building codes and inspections, and installation of renewable energy technologies on municipal buildings.
  • Another $550 million in renewable energy awards.
  • And, $144 million for Smart Grid “transitional” costs, most of which is going for utility worker training and retrainining, plus funding for state public utility commission staff training.

Meanwhile over at the NSF, the agency announced it is giving $20 million to each of six states to assist in research projects. Several of them have a potential tie to materials scientists and engineers (such as monies for basic science energy research in Kansas and South Dakota), but one thing that may be of particular interest is the funding earmarked for South Carolina for research related to “biofabrication–an emerging technology defined as computer-aided, layer-by-layer deposition of biologically relevant material with the purpose of engineering functional 3-D tissues and organs.”

[Also updated] Here are the new charts:

Department of Energy – 5.5% paid out


National Science Foundation – 1.1%


Source: Recovery.gov

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