Unemployed Americans Seek Training For Green Collar Jobs

As the economy continues to shed jobs, American community colleges are reporting a surge of the unemployed enrolling in courses that offer green jobs training.

The courses teach students how to install solar panels, repair wind turbines, produce biofuels and get back to work in other ways related to renewable energy.

Two-year colleges are meeting growing demand by launching or expanding green collar training with money from the federal stimulus package.

Many college officials believe there will be strong demand for trained green jobs workers once the economy rebounds and governments move to limit greenhouse gas emissions and require more use of renewable energy.

The renewable energy industry generated about 500,000 jobs and $43 billion revenue in the U.S. in 2007, according to the Associated Press.