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ULUKHAKTOK/HOLMAN - A wind turbine-building course set to launch in February in Ulukhaktok is the perfect opportunity for local camp owners to save money in an environmentally friendly way, says the man behind the project.

"You see the price of fuel here and the pollution," said Mel Pretty. "As we all know, the petrochemical industry is a dying industry, and we have to smarten up and think of better ways of producing energy."

For several years, the Aurora College electrical engineer instructor has powered his own cottage located about five km outside of Ulukhaktok with two wind turbines that have a capacity of about 600 watts. He built one of the turbines himself which cost him $800. He said by not using a gas-powered generator, he estimates he saves at least $500 in gas expenses a year.

After stewing over the idea of offering a community windmill-building course, he said he finally decided to contact a Minnesota company called KidWind, which is made up of engineers and teachers and provides lesson plans for wind turbine courses.

He was sent a 617-slide presentation that provides a step-by-step building guide. The course curriculum will centre on the slide presentation as well as a turbine component. Pretty said students can decide how in-depth they want to go, whether it be over a few days or several weeks.

The course will be held at the Ulukhaktok Learning Centre. The enrolment cost hasn't been nailed down yet.

The standard windmill has a capacity of 800 watts of power during winds of 48 km/h, he said. The energy produced is generally stored in a battery and used when needed. Though the cost of purchasing the windmill is expensive, Pretty said it doesn't require a lot of maintenance.

Not only does he think that windmills could easily provide enough electricity to power most of the camps here, Pretty said it would only take a few turbines to power about 80 per cent of Ulukhaktok year round.

"Along the Arctic coast here there's lots of wind. I have a mini weather station set up here at my camp. The data I have from it, wind energy is a very viable source of power along the coast," he said.

The Ulukhaktok resident said some people are already showing support for the course.

That's one of the reasons why Linda Flynn, the college's chair of community programs in Inuvik, agreed to give the course a shot. She's hoping it might encourage more of a green shift in the community and beyond.

"Any changes to the way communities generate power is going to come from the government," she said. "That's not our focus. What we're thinking about is ways for people to look at that sort of thing for their own purposes."

Like Pretty, Flynn also owns a cottage and thinks replacing a generator with a windmill makes economic and environmental sense. She said the college would decide whether to keep offering the course or expand it to other communities depending on enrolment.

"We just want to get people thinking. That's all you can hope to do," she said. "Is this something that would work for them? We've got lots of wind that's for sure."