MADISON, Wis. -- Gov. Jim Doyle has backed off a campaign promise that four University of Wisconsin campuses will become energy independent by 2012 after determining it was not practical.

Doyle promised in 2006 the campuses in Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Green Bay and River Falls would "go off the grid" by purchasing or producing as much energy from renewable sources as they consume. He said that they would achieve that by replacing fossil fuels with cleaner energy sources.

But the goal has since been changed to require the campuses to reduce their carbon dioxide emissions by certain levels by 2012 instead of going off the grid entirely.

Doyle said his original plan might have been unrealistic, but the goal was still to motivate students and university employees to reduce pollution.