Clean Energy Classrooms - The Canadian Guide to Sustainable Energy Training News
St Lawrence College - Ahead of the Green Collar curve
July 20, 2010
Kiu Huang is one of seven St. Lawence College Alumni working on the 8-member team of the Wolfe Island Wind Farm.
Photo credit: Bernard Clark
Wind power production is still in its infancy in Ontario, and St. Lawrence College is proud to be on the cutting edge of programming in this burgeoning sector.
As the first college in Ontario with a Wind Turbine Technician program, as well as a Wind Turbine Technician/Industrial Electrician Co-op Diploma Apprenticeship program, launched fall 2009, graduates from St. Lawrence College will be first in line for the numerous jobs that will required, both in Ontario, and around the world, as wind power developments become more popular.
With Kingston’s proximity to the largest wind farm in Ontario on Wolfe Island, which has a classroom/lab on-site, SLC students are in the best possible environment in which to master their skills as technicians. Also, with funding from the provincial government and its Skills to Jobs Action plan, St. Lawrence College built a new training facility for about 80 apprentices in several trades, including Wind Turbine Technician students. The building features an exterior solar wall and rooftop solar panels that will create energy and be used as a learning lab for future students. A full size wind turbine nacelle also gives students hands-on learning.
Other green initiatives at SLC include an innovative partnership with SWITCH Kingston in the 1000 Solar Rooftop Challenge launched this summer.
The program involves our students in a youth-led, community based social marketing program focused on making Kingston the most sustainable city in Canada through curriculum activities, door-to-door campaigns, pledges to reduce carbon consumption, and a call to local homeowners, businesses and institutions to fit solar systems on their roofs.
The goal is for Kingston to be the first city of its size to have 1000 solar thermal or photovoltaic technologies installed.
St. Lawrence College is also very proud to partner with the local Living Cities initiative to launch an urban garden on our Kingston campus. The garden will provide fresh, organic, local produce for those that subscribe as well as feeding needy families in our community.
