Carolina beat Duke at our Homecoming game last weekend, but Duke is beating us in getting their campus off of one of the dirtiest energy sources used today -- coal.

Duke University plans to reduce its coal consumption 70 percent by the end of the year by replacing coal with biofuels and natural gas, but here at UNC we are still burning 100 thousand tons of coal every year at our cogeneration facility on Cameron Avenue.

From coal mining to burning coal to generate power, coal causes incredible damage to our environmental and public health. UNC has taken important steps to minimize the negative effects of coal use by choosing to not purchase coal mined via mountaintop removal and by using coal ash as structural fill.

However, coal burning at the UNC cogeneration plant is the single largest source of global warming pollution for campus; in 2008, it accounted for 63 percent of UNC's greenhouse gas emissions. The cogen plant emits more than 320,000 tons of global warming pollution every year.

Global warming will have dire consequences for the state of North Carolina. Rising sea levels threaten to submerge the Outer Banks along with some of our most fertile agricultural lands, and scientists predict a rise in temperature of just four degrees Fahrenheit will make North Carolina's climate like that of central Florida today.

The good news is that there are many real alternative solutions that exist, such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass. North Carolina has the most wind potential of all Southeastern states, and twice the solar potential of Germany, the world's current leader in solar generation.

Carolina has taken steps to tap into these renewable energy resources, both through administration-led and student-led initiatives, such as the annual green fee that generates funds for renewable energy projects.

The university has pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and its strategy for doing so is outlined in its recent Climate Action Plan. Part of that plan is to replace 20 percent of coal burned on campus with a biomass called torrefied wood by 2025. Chancellor Holden Thorp has stated that he agrees we must move Carolina beyond coal.

These are steps in the right direction, but at this rate, UNC still will be burning coal when my children or even my grandchildren attend Carolina. The science shows that this will simply be far too late. Therefore, our goal is to get a commitment from Chancellor Thorp to move Carolina beyond coal by 2015.

While we cannot claim to have all the answers, if UNC shows the willingness to commit to an advanced timetable for ending coal use, the Sierra Club has the resources to help UNC find the right mix of alternatives to replace coal. It is worth noting that the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a public university much larger than UNC, already has committed to switching to a mixture of biomass, natural gas, and fuel oil by 2012.

Times are changing. If the carbon tax proposed as part of the climate legislation currently under consideration in the Senate is successfully passed, university reports show they would actually save money by replacing coal with biomass. Even without this, it would only cost UNC around $27 per ton of CO2 that is kept out of the atmosphere to burn biomass instead of coal.

We have seen overwhelming student support in the short seven weeks since we launched the campaign in September: 130 students have volunteered for the cause and more than 1,000 have signed our petition.

Carolina alumnus and Mayor-elect Mark Kleinschmidt has expressed that he supports Carolina's move beyond coal and hopes to work together with the university to make the transition off of coal happen.

As former civil rights leader U.S. Rep. John Lewis once said, "If not us, then who? If not now, then when?" There is an urgent need to end the use of such a dirty energy source, and UNC would benefit greatly in leading that effort by pushing forward the timetable for moving beyond coal.

Stewart Boss is coordinator for the Coal-Free UNC Campaign and a member of the UNC Chapel Hill Class of 2013.