Wind Power dream of self-described "environmental crank"

Call him the wind man.

Doug Craig, a consultant behind Boreal Alternate Energy Centre, is considered by many to be the driving force behind the Yukon's wind-turbine experiment. But don't tell him that. Craig will deny it, deferring to the Yukon's sole Liberal MLA, Jack Cable.

Cable, he says during an interview in the beat up van that's currently driving from the turbine back to town, dreams up all sorts of projects to keep him busy. Before Craig started to pursue the viability of the Haeckel Hill windmill, he had been asked to look into hydro, solar and wind power alternatives. He dismissed hydro and solar as too expensive. Even with modern technology, solar is still five times the cost of diesel.

"Wind was the only one with a chance of competing (against diesel)," he said. "I'm concerned about fossil fuels. They're terrible for the environment in my point of view.

cheap hotel in Groningen"I'm an environmental crank."

kostengunstiges Hotel HusavikA retired geologist, Craig taught high school and college students in the Yukon until early 1993, after he returned from a year-long stint teaching in Sweden.

"After coming back from Sweden, anything else would have been anticlimactic."

He started his first wind-monitoring station on top of Haeckel Hill five years ago. The year before that was a data search, reading about wind power and local climatic conditions. During that period of education he learned from Environment Canada that the wind never blew in Whitehorse. But that's only because the wind station was located at the airport, he said.

On top of the 1430 metre mountain, there's 10 times the wind there is in the valley. Once he'd proved that, the way was paved for a wind energy experiment. So far, the experiment has been a success, delivering more than 280,000 kilowatts of power between March 1994 and March 1995.

But it's improbable that it would ever supply more than a fraction of the territory's power needs, he said. Wind power complements other power generation, it never replaces it.

Take Denmark.

"Denmark gets three per cent of its power from the wind," he said.

That nation spearheaded wind power in the 1970s, largely because it was very dependent on other nations for its oil supply. When the energy crisis hit in the early 1970s it saw how devastating it could be on its economy, so it aggressively pursued alternative energy generation, especially wind, said Craig.

"(Three per cent) sounds small, but it's an important component." Craig is convinced expanding wind power is the way to go in the Yukon.

"I'd much rather we had that than CO2 emissions. Up to now we had no choice, but now we have a choice.

"We like our lights," he said pointing up at the ceiling. "The power has got to come from somewhere."

For more information:
Doug Craig, Boreal Alternate Energy Centre (403) 668-5774
John Maissan, Yukon Energy Corporation (403) 667-5028