Building Energy Use and Intensity

To improve energy efficiency in Postal Service facilities, we’ve implemented a nationwide strategy and are improving the availability and accuracy of facility performance data to enhance our decision making.

We have ambitious goals for our owned and leased facilities. By 2015, we plan to reduce both total energy use and energy intensity (measured in energy use per square foot) by 30 percent from a 2003 baseline.

Achieving both goals requires a combination of initiatives, including implementing energy management systems, conducting detailed facility energy audits, making cost-effective capital improvements to buildings and their equipment, and actively involving our employees in energy reduction and conservation.

Solid steps are being taken toward meeting our owned and leased facility goals. In 2008, the Postal Service consumed approximately 30.7 trillion Btu across our 34,000 facilities, which represents a 15 percent reduction in energy use since 2003.

We also have considerably reduced energy across our building footprint. In 2008, our average facility energy intensity was 94,400 Btu/ft2, a reduction of 17 percent from 2003

Looking toward 2015, we’re optimistic about meeting our 30 percent reduction goals for both total energy use and intensity. While automated mail processing equipment increases our energy use in buildings, it typically reduces the overall number of buildings used to process the 200 billion pieces of mail we deliver each year, resulting in an overall energy-use reduction.

Energy Management Data Systems

In early 2008, the Postal Service began implementing a Utility Management System (UMS). UMS was designed to facilitate central utility bill verification and payment and capture energy use and cost data of our largest facilities for our most common utilities — electricity, natural gas and steam.

We’re now rolling out the system on a broader scale, and by the end of 2009 it should include our largest 2,000 facilities, representing approximately 75 percent of energy use. UMS will provide facility-specific utility information at a level of accuracy previously unavailable to the Postal Service.

Also during 2008, we began developing an Enterprise Energy Management System (EEMS). It allows us to consolidate facility-related energy information into one location, measure and verify building equipment and system performance in real time, and monitor and control building systems locally and remotely. This helps us identify opportunities for improvement, reduce cost and consumption, increase efficiency and improve energy planning.

EEMS will expand through 2010 to include 28,000 facilities. EEMS lets us standardize results across differences in weather, location, facility size, mail volume or time period.

Energy Conservation

Our first priority for managing facility energy use is to identify and implement opportunities for savings. Facility energy audits help us evaluate our energy use and identify opportunities to manage it better.

In 2007, we began commissioning comprehensive energy audits at our most energy-intensive buildings. Through these audits, we identified potential energy reductions of up to 2 trillion BTUs and cost savings totaling $44 million by the end of 2008. As we conduct more audits, we will incorporate best practices and lessons learned from them into future reviews.

Many energy conservation opportunities identified to date are simple and repeatable, such as reprogramming thermostats, turning off lights and repairing compressed air leaks— often at little or no cost.

More complex improvements include upgrades and replacements of HVAC, lighting and compressed air systems— including controls which are crucial to realizing savings from the upgrades. In 2008, we encouraged implementation of energy efficient retrofits by modifying our building design criteria with stronger requirements for energy efficiency performance.

Green Buildings

USPS is committed to building and operating high performance, sustainable buildings. Our objective is to design and build all new construction and significant renovation projects to exceed the energy efficiency requirements of the leading building energy standard (ASHRAE 90.1-2004) by the greatest amount that is life-cycle cost effective.

To facilitate this, we require design teams to perform energy modeling on multiple alternative design concepts, and we select designs based on energy and financial considerations. We also require roofing materials to be Energy Star compliant to address the “heat island” effect.

Our efforts go beyond just energy efficiency. Other sustainable attributes— low volatile organic compound (VOC) paints, recycled-content materials and low-flow plumbing fixtures are requirements for our designs. We also incorporate native plants in our landscaping to reduce irrigation requirements.

Our design criteria now include “green” lobbies that use a variety of environmentally friendly materials. And any new building construction we undertake meets the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification requirements.

Furthermore, the Postal Service has historically played a critical role in sustainable patterns of development in America through its locations for new Post Offices. Post Office locations are designed to be convenient to all customers by being centrally located.

Renewable Energy

Another aspect of our sustainability strategy is to increase our use of renewable energy when it makes business sense. We’re exploring renewable technologies at several locations around the country.

Because postal facilities are located in a wide range of geographies and climates, a number of opportunities are available. For example, in the Pacific Area, the EPA honored USPS with an environmental achievement award for our solar photovoltaic, fuel cell and combined heat and power generation technologies.

We intend to make renewable energy a sustainable part of our operations, and we continue to evaluate projects that provide a favorable return on investment while creating additional environmental benefit. We’ve learned that energy conservation is often a better investment than site-specific renewable energy developments.

Nevertheless, we have 10 buildings with on-site solar photovoltaic systems, primarily in California, and we continue to pursue these and other economically and environmentally responsible systems.