U.S. Postal Service Releases Sustainability and Energy Scorecard

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Jul 26, 2012, 01:06 ET

Reduces Energy, Potable Water Use

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Postal Service recently presented its Sustainability and Energy Scorecard to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The OMB Sustainability and Energy Scorecard is a reporting tool that federal government agencies use to publicly report progress against their sustainability goals.

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"The Postal Service is committed to being a sustainability leader and our scorecard results demonstrate great progress toward sustainability goals including reducing energy and potable water intensity, and greenhouse gas emissions," said Chief Sustainability Officer, Thomas G. Day.

Progress noted in USPS' OMB Sustainability and Energy Scorecard includes the following reductions:

Facility energy intensity—22.4 percent toward a 30 percent reduction goal by fiscal year (FY) 2015, from a 2003 baseline.
Potable water intensity—18.5 percent toward a 26 percent goal by FY 2020, from a 2007 baseline.
Greenhouse gas emissions—16.1 percent in 2011 toward a 20 percent reduction goal by FY 2020, from a 2008 baseline.

In order to reduce energy and water intensity—measured as usage per square foot—the Postal Service uses sustainable features in its buildings, including high efficiency lighting, recycled building materials, solar energy systems and low water use fixtures. The agency has one green roof in New York City and is adding another in Syracuse, NY. These green roofs will help the Postal Service save energy and reduce pollutants in storm water runoff.

Although the Postal Service continues to make its delivery routes more efficient—eliminating more than 6800 delivery routes in 2011—petroleum use has increased 6.4 percent since 2005. This, due in large part to the nation's growth. Nearly 1 million addresses are added to the delivery network every year. An aging fleet of delivery vehicles—more than 20-years old, each—drive an average of 18.5 miles in vigorous conditions of approximately 500 stops and starts each day. Financial limitations prevent near term investment in a new fleet of vehicles. In the interim, USPS continues to test alternate technologies to assure informed decisions when funding becomes available.

The Postal Service's green fleet consists of more than 8,000 letter carriers delivering mail by walking—the "fleet of feet"—nearly 70 bicycle routes and nearly 41,000 vehicles capable of running on ethanol, biodiesel, compressed natural gas, propane and electricity.

USPS has achieved interim sustainability milestones and is on track to achieve all goals except total postal vehicle petroleum fuel use reductions of 20 percent by FY 2015.

In its 2011 Annual Sustainability Report the Postal Service announced a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing nearly 200,000 passenger vehicles from the road for a year. The 2011 Annual Sustainability Report can also be found on Slideshare at:

http://www.slideshare.net/dcasey_usps_com/us-postal-service-annual-sustainability-report-2011-061312

USPS also helps customers calculate and reduce their own carbon footprints. Visit usps.com/green and the usps green newsroom to learn more about the Postal Service's sustainability initiatives and the Go Green Forever stamps.

The Postal Service has won numerous environmental honors, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) WasteWise Partner of the Year award in 2010 and 2011, the EPA's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities award in 2011 and the Climate Registry Gold award in 2011.

USPS participates in the International Post Corporation's Environmental Measurement and Monitoring System, the global postal industry's program to reduce its carbon footprint 20 percent by 2020 based on an FY 2008 baseline.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation — 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office™ Boxes. The Postal Service™ receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com®, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world's mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. In 2011, Oxford Strategic Consulting ranked the U.S. Postal Service number one in overall service performance of the posts in the top 20 wealthiest nations in the world. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Follow the Postal Service on www.twitter.com/USPS and at www.facebook.com/USPS

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SOURCE U.S. Postal Service