The flux in high-tech jobs in the renewable energy field has prompted Illinois State University to look at offering a bachelor’s degree in the field.
This article in the Matoon and Charleston, Illinois Journal Gazette Times-Courier says the degree would offer studies in biofuels, wind, and solar power:
If approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education, ISU will launch the new major in the fall of 2008, joining just a handful of U.S. universities that have created renewable energy degrees since the Oregon Institute of Technology established the nation’s first program in 2005.
“It’s still cutting edge, so it’s like those folks who got into the computer field before everybody had a PC. They’ll be that far ahead of the game,” said Tehri Parker, executive director of the Midwest Renewable Energy Association.
The article goes on to say employers have already been contacting the school… five years before the earliest class would even be earning the new degrees.
An analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists says there are potentially 355,000 jobs to be created in the electrical sector alone if Congress approves the group’s guidelines of 20% of electrical energy production coming from renewable sources by the year 2020.
NASCAR is looking at switching to some form of alternative fuel for its racers… but what kind is still up in the air.
France said because there are “eight or nine different versions of what alternative fuels mean to people, ” the ultimate solution will be determined by the marketplace, meaning the automotive and energy industries will play a major role.
The Grain & Feed Association of Illinois (GFAI) is hosting two seminars to outline the impact ethanol is having on grain elevators.
United Kingdom-based ITM Power Ltd. has converted a Ford Focus that can run on gasoline or pure hydrogen.
ITM Power’s CEO Jim Heathcote said: ‘Both these developments represent a seismic advance in our efforts to cut ourselves free from the dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. The bi-fuel car and refuelling system clearly demonstrate a simple, convenient and low-cost transportation solution that can significantly reduce greenhouse gases and help mitigate climate change. We believe combining electrolysers with an internal combustion-engined vehicle brings affordable hydrogen transportation forward by many years.’
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed into law two mandates for biofuel blending in his state. 
“We are delighted that private industry, and Blue Diamond in particular, is very active in searching for alternative sources of energy,” said Dr. Gerald Riskowski, professor and department head of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. “Texas A&M University wants to develop collaborative efforts to help utilize bioenergy for the benefit of society.”
“We will be producing a product in accordance with international fuel standards, and this requires having the best minds and most efficient technology to achieve our goals,” said Blue Diamond Chief Executive Officer John Quincey Moaning. “We are delighted to have one of the country’s leading biofuels institutions as a partner.”
New ideas have found support through venture capital firms such as Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif. MDV licensed the biodiesel technology of ISU professor Victor Lin and created Catalin, a company that will build its pilot plant at the university’s Biomass Energy Conversion Facility in Nevada.
DuPont is dropping $58 million into a joint venture with British Petroleum (BP) and British Sugar to produce the biofuels, biobutanol and ethanol. Biobutanol is a renewable energy source similar to ethanol in that its is obtained by fermenting some of the same feedstocks, but biobutanol is closer to unleaded gasoline in energy content. It is also more compatible with existing pertoleum-based fuels pipeline systems.
To celebrate independence from foreign oil on Independence Day, MFA Oil Company – which currently sells E85 at more than 40 locations in Arkansas, Iowa and Missouri – will be giving away a Ford F-150 FFV for the second year in a row. 
“Our goal is to help educate consumers so that E85 becomes their fuel of choice,” said Jerry Taylor, president of MFA Oil Company. “In doing so, we continue to demonstrate MFA Oil’s commitment to strengthening rural economies through support of the biofuel industry and by decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.”