Seize the grid, Duke

Environmentalism sometimes seems like an effort of words: we’re experts at the buzzword battle-cry, green war paint streaking our cheeks. The eco-friendly lexicon is all over campus. Sustainable this, green that, and did we mention it’s local? Certainly, in many cases, Duke doesn’t just talk the talk—it walks the walk. From LEED certifications to sustainable food procurement to reductions in our carbon footprint, Duke is striving to be a leader in sustainability. A look at Duke’s electricity supply, however, paints a picture that is not so dazzlingly green.

Think about this the next time you flip on the lights, charge your laptop or put in a load of laundry: all of the University’s electricity is purchased from Duke Energy, and almost all of that is produced from nuclear and coal energy plants. Earlier this year, non-profit news outlet “Mother Jones” ranked Duke Energy the worst climate offender for having the largest annual carbon footprint. This makes sense considering that 45 percent of Duke Energy’s generation portfolio came from coal in 2011, and combustion of this dirty fuel accounted for nearly a quarter of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2012.

In its ambitious Climate Action Plan (CAP), which details the University’s goal to become a carbon neutral campus, Duke recognizes the significance of its electrical usage. In fact, over 50 percent of Duke’s total greenhouse gas emissions comes from its use of electricity. While Duke has taken an active stance on many emissions reduction strategies—replacing old buses with more efficient models, developing carbon offsets initiatives, offering sustainably sourced food—its approach to electricity purchase has been more passive. In this regard, the 2009 CAP softly asserts that “Duke should continue to urge, monitor, and review Duke Energy’s progress towards emissions reductions.”

This passive policy could work if Duke Energy were a climate leader in prioritizing the transition to clean energy. But instead of making rapid advancements in renewable technology and generation, Duke Energy is moving at a slow crawl. While it is busy spilling coal ash into North Carolina rivers, the energy company seems to have no time to make significant progress in adding renewable capacity; in 2031, renewables will account for only 3 percent of its energy mix. This is not good enough, and Duke University needs to do more than wait patiently for a change that seems fated to arrive too late.

In response, the Seize the Grid campaign is calling on Duke to transition its power supply to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. Campaign leader Claire Wang (Trinity ‘19) asserts, “We should take active steps to invest in clean energy, rather than defer to fossil-dependent companies like Duke Energy to make our energy choices for us.” To achieve this goal, the University can enter into power purchase agreements with utilities that produce renewable energy. We can also more ambitiously pursue on-site renewable power generation, such as solar PV and biogas (the 2009 CAP only explored a 4MW installation of solar PV panels on campus).

Seize the Grid is one of two campaigns under the Duke Climate Coalition umbrella. For the past three years, its partner campaign, Divest Duke, has been advocating that Duke University divest its endowment from the dirtiest 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. The Climate Coalition is excited about the partnership between Divest Duke and Seize the Grid because they are natural complements. Both are active measures the University should take to demonstrate its climate leadership, but where divestment is, in a sense, a subtractive policy, Seize the Grid is an additive one.

In its 2015 rejection of Divest Duke’s divestment proposal, the Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility argued that the University’s tangible efforts to reduce emissions—like the ones previously mentioned—have a greater global impact than the stated symbolic gesture of divestment. But divestment and emissions reductions aren’t an either-or scenario. When we take our investments out of dirty energy and we make cleaner electricity purchasing choices, we not only make measurable reductions to our carbon footprint, but we also send a powerful signal to other Universities, energy companies and the global community at large that we are committed to a clean energy future. That is when Duke University will truly walk the walk.

If you want to tell Duke University to clean up its electricity act, sign the online petition and join the campaign on Thursday, October 14th, and Friday, October 15th. For its official launch, Seize the Grid campaign members will be in front of the Allen Building collecting photo petitions from members of the Duke community in order to send this powerful, visual message to the administration. Be one of the faces of our clean energy future and call on Duke to Seize the Grid.