When Alden Zeitz started the Wind Energy Program at Iowa Lakes Community College five years ago, 15 students enrolled.

This year, 102 students enrolled in the two-year training program for wind turbine technicians, including some students who abandoned another career for the economic promise of green technology. The wind energy industry hasn\'t been immune to the recession, but students are counting on the federal government\'s injection of $80 billion in clean energy projects to change that.

The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 is a stimulus package that includes money for solar farms, wind turbines, electrical grid updates, mass transit, and the weatherizing and retrofitting of buildings. Besides its environmental benefits, the spending is expected to produce much needed jobs—about 1 million to 1.5 million of them, according to estimates by some environmental groups.

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