Duke has taken its first steps away from burning coal, cutting its reliance on the traditional fuel to reduce the University's impact on the environment.

The University expects to reduce its coal consumption by 70 percent over the next year, according to its sustainability Web site. In February, the West Campus steam plant saw the final railcar loaded with the black rocks pull into its doors.

The plant will now burn 40,000 fewer tons of coal a year, and trucks instead of railcars will bring the smaller loads to the plant, said Kemel Dawkins, vice president for campus services.

The reduction is part of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which President Richard Brodhead signed in July 2007. The petition requires Duke to complete a greenhouse gas inventory and report target dates for becoming climate neutral.

"It means that we are going to be reducing by a significant amount the number of pollutants we put in the atmosphere," Dawkins said.

Renovations of the East Campus steam plant, which has not been in use since 1978, will be completed next winter and will lessen dependence on the West Campus plant, Dawkins noted.

The East Campus plant will burn natural gas, which is cleaner than coal, he added.

One of the West Campus steam plant's three boilers was also converted to burn natural gas instead of coal, said Steam Systems Manager John Fidgeon.

The University ultimately intends to stop burning coal altogether, said Tavey Capps, Duke's environmental sustainability coordinator.

"The hope is that we can eventually get off of fossil fuels," she said. "We're looking at it in the next five to 10 years, depending on the economic environment."

Fidgeon said he is looking forward to the day when coal will not be burning in the West Campus plant's boilers.

"When we finally get rid of all that coal and the ash that goes along with it... hopefully, it will be a simpler, more streamlined process to make the steam. It'll definitely be cleaner," he said.

Capps said the changes made in the steam plant are only one of the ways Duke is working to reduce its impact on the environment.

"Greenhouse gas efforts right now are one of our main initiatives, but there are many pieces to Duke's sustainability program," Capps said. "We are looking at really everything that our [carbon] footprint includes."