The Iowa Power Fund Board this morning approved funding totaling more than $5.7 million for six alternative-energy projects. Iowa State University received two of those awards: $2.37 million for the Clean Gasification Platform for Renewable Power Project to produce ethanol and $1.69 million for a solar energy conversion project to make solar cells more efficient. The University of Northern Iowa received $400,000 for development of hydrogen storage cells and $78,681 for development of less expensive dye-sensitized solar cells. Renew Energy Systems of St. Ansgar received a $250,000 award to purchase additional machinery for its Mobile Solid Biomass Briquette Plant, which processes biodiesel feedstocks into briquettes to be used as fuel. The Amana Farms Anaerobic Digester Project received $918,000, which the company will repay once it begins realizing income from carbon credits.

Fort Dodge-based North Central Bancshares Inc., the holding company for First Federal Savings Bank of Iowa, has received preliminary approval to receive $10.2 million under the capital purchase program of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. First Federal Savings Bank of Iowa operates 11 offices, including branches in Ankeny, Clive and West Des Moines.

Terracon Consultants Inc. has bought AquaDrill Inc. of Swisher, Iowa, the Kansas City Business Journal reported. AquaDrill specializes in subsurface environmental soil sampling and the monitoring of well installation. AquaDrill will retain its name. Terracon is an engineering consulting firm that provides geotechnical, environmental, construction materials and facilities services from nearly 100 offices nationwide, including Des Moines. It is based in Olathe, Kan.

The Iowa Office of Energy Independence has released its annual recommendations for energy efficiency and production. Since releasing its first plan last year, the office has received applications proposing nearly $1 billion in private-sector investment in renewable energy and job creation. The current plan is available at the office’s Web site, www.energy.iowa.gov.

Consumer confidence and spending slowed as early as spring 2007, according to a recent analysis by Experian Marketing Services, a part of information company Experian plc. The analysis found that from spring 2007 to summer 2008, the percentage of U.S. adults who felt they would be financially better off in the next year dropped to 37 percent from 46 percent. The report compared the economic confidence and spending habits of adult Americans, along with online site traffic and searches on major purchase items. It found that consumer behavior was a strong indicator of a downturn months before the current economic crisis. Not only did the percentage of confident consumers slump, but the number of adults who felt they would be worse off in the coming year grew by 9 percentage points to 22 percent.

Sales of existing homes, including townhomes and condominiums, fell 8.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.49 million units in November from a downwardly revised level of 4.91 million in October, and are 10.6 percent below the 5.02 million-unit pace in November 2007, the National Association of Realtors said. Total housing inventory at the end of November rose 0.1 percent to 4.20 million existing homes available for sale, representing an 11.2-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 10.3-month supply in October, the association said.