Duke University delayed plans to build a $55 million natural gas plant on campus.
The university appointed a special subcommittee of the Campus Sustainability Committee (CSC) to study the feasibility of building a combined heat and power plant (CHP). The group delivered its recommendations on Monday.
Renewable energy advocates, which notably included four former deans of Duke's Nicholas School for the Environment, spoke out against the project last month.
In accepting the report, Duke Executive Vice President Tallman Trask thanked the group for its work and said the university would consider the report when deciding future steps.
"Be assured that the university will continue to engage stakeholders in the process in a meaningful way, and that any decision will be, first and foremost, consistent with our longstanding commitment to leadership in sustainability and responsible stewardship of the environment," Trask said through a released statement.
Jim Warren of the environmental advocacy group N.C. WARN argued the university should also revisit options for solar panels.
"Nobody is saying that solar power can run that entire university and hospital right now, but that is the direction - the clean energy direction - where Stanford and other leading universities are going," Warren said.
