Submitted: The Two Sides Team August 10, 2012

USPS reduces energy, greenhouse gas emissions and potable water use. July 26, 2012

Washington, DC

Press Release

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.

“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.

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