National Energy Action Month: USPS is 'Leaner, Greener, Smarter, Faster'

Today the U.S. Postal Service marked National Energy Action Month as postal officials highlighted energy savings and cost avoidance — attributed in large part to postal employees’ actions — and with a national cancellation and Go Green stamp messages that encourage Americans to take low- and no-cost actions to reduce energy.

“Think globally, lead locally is this year’s National Energy Action Month theme,” said Chief Sustainability Officer Thomas G. Day. “Applied to their daily activities, postal employees conserve resources, reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.”

The Postal Service reported it had reduced energy use by more than 25 percent since 2003, equal to the average annual energy use of approximately 90,000 U.S. households. In July, the agency also reported a 7.4 percent decrease in its greenhouse gas emissions since 2008. The reduction of nearly 985,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide is equal to removing nearly 200,000 passenger vehicles from the road for a year.

“Leaner, greener, smarter and faster is our mantra,” added Day. “More than 850 employee Lean Green teams work every day to implement low- and no-cost ways to conserve energy and reduce costs. In 2011, employees helped the Postal Service save $22 million on more than 1,000 facility energy reduction projects.”

The Postal Service has aggressive sustainability, including:

• Reduction of facility energy use 30 percent by 2015,
• Reduction of water usage by 10 percent by 2015,
• Diversion of 50 percent of solid waste from landfills by 2015, and
• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020.