Panel will examine carbon reduction plan over next 6-12 months

MEET THE TEAM

In addition to chairman Tim Toben, the new Energy Task Force includes UNC Trustee Alston Gardner; Royce Murray, Kenan Professor of Chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences; David McNelis, director of the Center for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economic Development at the UNC Institute for the Environment; Jonathan Howes, former special assistant to the chancellor for local relations and former secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources; Molly Diggins, state director of the N.C. chapter of the Sierra Club; Elinor Benami, a senior and senior adviser to the executive branch of student government; and Mary Cooper, a sophomore environmental science major and co-chairwoman of student government's Environmental Affairs Committee.

By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 419-6645

CHAPEL HILL -- UNC Chancellor Holden Thorp on Thursday announced the creation of a new Energy Task Force to study UNC's carbon reduction plan and to review what other universities are doing in that regard.

The task force, which will be chaired by Tim Toben, chairman of the N.C. Energy Policy Council, will spend the next six to 12 months learning about the university's carbon reduction efforts and evaluating approaches being used to encourage sustainability.

"I think he wanted another set of outside eyes in light of the new technology that's out there, and in light of the emphasis the federal government is placing on a clean economy," Toben said. "The chancellor has made it clear that this is something that he's very serious about."

Thorp said in a news release that he thinks UNC and many other universities across the country are doing a good job of addressing energy issues.

"But we can always learn more, do more and improve," Thorp said. "That's what this is all about."

News of the task force was applauded Thursday by Stewart Boss, a coordinator for Coal-Free UNC, a student-led campaign to move UNC away from the use of coal.

"It's definitely exciting news," Boss said. "Our goal is to get a commitment to move the university off coal by 2015. Hopefully, this Energy Task Force will see that's the direction to move in."

Thorp's announcement comes about two weeks after Coal-Free UNC called on the university to follow the lead of Cornell University, which pledged to stop using goal in its power plant by 2011.

Cornell is building a new $82 million power plant that will allow the campus to generate most of its electrical power using natural gas, while recycling the heat generated during the process.

It also comes less than a week before James Hansen, one of the nation's leading climate scientists, is scheduled to appear on campus and urge UNC to stop burning coal.

Hansen, the director of NASA's climate research center, the Goddard Institute, will hold a press conference Tuesday in front of UNC's cogeneration facility on Cameron Avenue.

UNC has set a goal to be coal free by 2050, but Boss said the university needs to end its relationship with "dirty coal" long before then.

"The cogeneration plant is a great facility [in terms of reducing emissions], but still the fact is that we're burning 100,000 tons of coal," Boss said. "Forty years from now is far too long to wait to eliminate that, but that's great news from Chancellor Thorp."

Laura Stevens, a Chapel Hill-based organizer for the Sierra Club's Coal-Free Campus Campaign, said the organization is glad to see UNC form an energy task force, and hopes it will focus on eliminating the use of coal to power its campus.

"We believe Carolina can do better than burning dirty coal," Stevens said. "We are very glad to see this step in the right direction."

Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt was also excited about news of the task force.

"It puts this community at the front of the pack in looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions," said Kleinschmidt. The town would assist the university in any way it needs.