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Brownfields 2009 Offsets Carbon Footprint and Helps Rebuild Greensburg, KS

by Sean Tolliver

September 23, 2009

The National Brownfields Conference, with generous support from conference sponsor SRA International has partnered with NativeEnergy to offset the CO2 emissions that the conference generates. These carbon offsets will be used to help fund the construction of wind turbines at the Greensburg Wind Farm in the Town of Greensburg, Kansas. This year the conference will be offsetting the venue energy use, transportation for the mobile workshops, hotel accommodations of all the attendees who book in the conference room block, and the waste generated by attendees while at the Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

The Town of Greensburg, Kansas was 95% destroyed by a tornado in May of 2007. The Town is rebuilding as a “green city” with all buildings LEED certified, among other greening efforts. In his first address to a joint session of Congress, President Obama said, “Greensburg… is being rebuilt by its residents as a global example of how clean energy can power an entire community – how it can bring jobs and businesses to a place where piles of bricks and rubble once lay. ‘The tragedy was terrible,’ said one of the men who helped them rebuild. ‘But the folks here know that it also provided an incredible opportunity.’” So organizations, major corporations, local businesses, and now the National Brownfields Conference, are supporting Greensburg by helping to build the Greensburg Wind Farm. This project will help Greensburg achieve its green energy goal of providing homes and businesses with a clean energy source. The wind farm will generate enough energy to power 4,000 homes – more than enough electricity for every home, business, and municipal facility in Greensburg.

“Sustainability Starts Here!” is the National Brownfields Conference theme and nothing represents that theme better than helping Greensburg create significant economic and environmental benefits for the entire community in their rebuilding efforts.

Offset Your Travel to New Orleans

Attendees can offset their travel to New Orleans for the Brownfields Conference and help build the Greensburg Wind Project by using the calculator on NativeEnergy’s website to figure out your carbon output for travel to New Orleans for Brownfields 2009.