The whole story is very long, so I only pasted partial with link.
Full story here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080202/...hkzUCcwiSs0NUE

Excerpt
When 1,800 workers lost their jobs after a Maytag appliance factory and headquarters closed last year in the small town of Newton, Iowa, a wind turbine blade company saw opportunity — an available, skilled workforce in the middle of one of America's hardiest wind energy production regions.
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"You look at a wind turbine. It's got a whole bunch of parts. Somebody makes the blades, somebody makes the tower, somebody makes the gear boxes, the electronic controls," Sterzinger said. "Those parts can come from China, India — or from Buffalo."

The wind energy industry currently employs about 45,000 people in the U.S. and had $9 billion worth of investment last year, a 45 percent increase from 2006, Swisher said.

"Given that growth, we're already seeing constraints in terms of workers," he said.

Swisher estimates that by 2030, nearly a half-million new jobs could be created in the wind industry, in manufacturing, construction and operation.

The solar industry, too, is growing. Last year set a record with 314 megawatts of new solar capacity installed in the U.S., said Rhone Resch, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association. That's enough to power about 80,000 homes, he said.

The market was worth just about $200 million five years ago. Last year, it topped $2 billion, Resch said.

"These are jobs that are really the backbone of the economy, jobs like roofers, carpenters, electricians and plumbers," he said. "But the federal government is completely asleep at the switch here."