2021 Climate Action Plan and UNC’s Journey to Renewables Story by
In August 2019, Lauren Ledford and her roommates moved into a house on Cameron Court, excited to start the new school year. A year later, they moved out because they didn’t like the neighbors. Or, more specifically, one neighbor – UNC-Chapel Hill’s cogeneration plant, which produces steam and electricity by burning coal and natural gas. For Ledford, an environmental studies major, living next to a coal-burning plant gave her “an uneasy feeling.” “I didn’t even know that the university had that until I moved there,” she said. “They keep it so hidden, and I didn’t like that.”