What's Powering General Convention? WIND!
an interview with Sally Bingham

The Witness: How do people react when you say General Convention is powered by wind?

Sally Bingham: When we talk about powering General Convention with wind, the responses are inevitably snickers and smiles. Some people actually laugh out loud, and almost always someone says, "So what else is new?" The jokes, of course, refer to the "hot air" that circulates at every General Convention.

However, an appropriate question this year is, in fact, "So what else is new?" All kidding aside, the last General Convention (July 2000 in Denver, Col.) was powered by wind, not the "hot air" being joked about, but honest-to-goodness energy produced by wind farms in Colorado. This is not new to us. Once again, we have elected to have Convention powered with wind, but this time with "wind tags."

TW: What is the difference between buying wind power directly and buying "wind tags?"

Sally Bingham: While we paid for extra wind energy to be put directly into the Colorado grid last time, this time we are buying "wind tags." Choice of direct wind energy is not yet available in Minnesota. Wind tags and direct wind power both achieve the same result. Both ensure that a certain amount of wind energy is generated and delivered to the grid on the behalf of General Convention.

Purchasing wind tags means that the amount of electricity used at the Minneapolis Convention Center will be offset with 100% wind energy… In fact, General Convention has bought enough wind tags to offset not just the electricity use at Convention, but also 25% of the electricity use by associated hotels.

TW: How do wind tags provide financial support for new wind farms?

Sally Bingham: To get the extra revenues they need, some wind farms sell wind tags, which are a widely traded commodity that consist of the right to claim the emissions reductions and other environmental benefits of green electricity. Wind tags became a commodity because people who want to buy green electricity often don't have it available to them, as is the case in Minnesota. The industry developed these "green tags" so everybody can access the same environmental benefits from green energy sources. Wind tags offset the pollution caused by consumption of electricity generated by fossil fuels, primarily coal, oil and natural gas. Environmentally speaking, buying wind tags while continuing to pay your regular electric bill from your utility is the same as buying wind generated electricity directly.

TW: Why do we care? And why were wind tags bought for Convention?

Sally Bingham: Well, the short answer is that it is the right thing to do. That's why the Episcopal Ecological Network (EEN) has arranged for the largest gathering of Episcopalians, some 10,000-plus of us this summer, to model this action. It is the religious response to global warming that we want all of our churches to make. Global warming is destroying God's Creation. According to a consensus reached by the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, human behavior is a large contributor to the production of greenhouse gases. The stewardship of Creation is central to religious life. A proper response is as simple as "loving one's neighbor." When you love your neighbor, you don’t pollute your neighbor’s air or water. You see to it that your neighbor breathes the same quality air you breathe.

TW: How does building a new wind farm help fight global warming?

Sally Bingham: Making electricity with wind turbines produces no air pollution and none of the carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The more wind turbines we build, the less electricity we’ll need from power plants that burn fossil fuels. This is because there can’t be too much electricity flowing into the grid. According to federal regulation, the grid must accept green energy. If too much energy is coming into the grid, other generators must reduce their input. Actually, it’s physics. The grid operators have to turn down other operators to compensate. They generally turn down generators that burn fossil fuels. By making these polluting power plants run less often, wind farms create direct environmental benefits, the most important being that less carbon dioxide pollution is emitted into our atmosphere.

TW: Why was NativeEnergy chosen to supply wind tags for Convention?

Sally Bingham: We chose NativeEnergy because its green tags help build new wind farms, including the first Native American-owned large-scale wind turbine. This turbine is on the Rosebud Sioux Tribe reservation in South Dakota. Environmentally speaking, that’s a lot better than buying green power or green tags from wind farms that were built some time ago. Folks who really want to make a difference help build new wind farms. And we are those folks. We want to lessen our ecological footprint in Minnesota while we are there, because being there we will be "downwind" from the coal plants whose energy this new turbine will displace.

NativeEnergy focuses on using green tags to help build wind farms that are owned and operated by Native Americans and family farmers, so their green tags create two benefits: environmental benefits for the earth and economic benefits for people who really need them.

Sally Bingham: NativeEnergy focuses on using green tags to help build wind farms that are owned and operated by Native Americans and family farmers, so their green tags create two benefits: environmental benefits for the earth and economic benefits for people who really need them. NativeEnergy’s commitment to the Rosebud turbine, supported by the sale of its green tags, helped jumpstart a sustainable economic development initiative for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, a new economy based on wind. The U.S. Department of Energy asserts that wind resources on the Northern Plains, the "Saudi Arabia of Wind," are sufficient to supply the lower 48 states with 75% of their electricity demand.

TW: Why did the Rosebud Sioux Tribe install a wind turbine on their reservation?

Sally Bingham: The inspiration came largely from the far-reaching vision of Alex "Little Soldier" Lunderman (1928-1999), a former tribal president. He believed the Rosebud Sioux Tribe could use modern technology as well as nature’s resources in a way that is compatible with Native American history, philosophy, and cultural and spiritual values. One day Lunderman had a vision. In that vision, he saw a long line of people behind him walking toward a traditional teepee. Inside the teepee were computers and other kinds of technologies that could be used by his people to protect Mother Earth. Later, he added that generating clean electricity from "The Four Winds" could help his people, whose name actually means "Voice of the Four Winds People."

Many of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe live on the one million-acre reservation, the nation's 6th largest, in South Dakota. The expansive rolling prairies, the shallow winding rivers, and the ever-present winds are all integral parts of the continuing history and culture of the Lakota people. An old Lakota story goes this way: An Elder from a southwest pueblo visiting the Rosebud Sioux Tribe asked, "Say, all your animals up here kind of lean over to one side. Do they fall over when the wind stops?" The Sioux answered, "We don't know. It never stops blowing."

TW: How can churches find out more about buying wind tags?

Sally Bingham: The Episcopal Ecological Network (EEN) and The Regeneration Project have been proud to work with NativeEnergy on this Convention initiative. We want the church to realize that offsetting your or your congregation’s contribution to global warming is also inexpensive and easy. We hope people will visit the EEN booth #203 at General Convention in Minneapolis, and receive more information about this important ministry of our church. We can also be reached at www.EENonline.org

The Rev. Sally Bingham is an Episcopal priest who serves at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California. She is an environmental activist and founder of The Regeneration Project, whose mission is to deepen the connection between ecology and faith. She speaks around the world on global warming and the proper religious response.

The Witness gratefully acknowledges the contribution of Beverly Meeker, an EEN steering committee member, to this article.