Here, apparently, is how the energy was produced to renew the Renewable Energy Lab’s funding. A February 12, 2006 Carpetbagger Report report says:
The Bush administration, almost immediately after the president vowed in his State of the Union address to expand investment and research into alternative fuels, began laying off researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The budget cuts that forced the layoffs were concentrated among researchers working on the same technologies singled out for praise in the SOTU….
All of this was going to be awfully embarrassing when the president showed up at the Lab today. [But, a February 12, 2006 CNN report says:]
“On the eve of a presidential visit to a renewable energy lab in Colorado, the Department of Energy said it has transferred $5 million to the operation, which had funding cut and employees laid off this month due to budget shortfalls…. U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman transferred the money over the weekend to restore jobs at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, according to a department news release.”
(Thanks to Investigator Shirl Lawson for bringing this to our attention.)