United States Postal Service - A Sustainability Leader

The United States Postal Service's (USPS) sustainability vision is simple: be a national leader. In 2008, the USPS became the first federal agency to create an officer level position of Vice President of Sustainability, and publicly report its third-party-verified GHG emissions via The Climate Registry. In addition, it is among the first to publish an annual sustainability performance report in line with the Global Reporting Initiative's corporate reporting standard.

In 2008, the USPS expanded efforts beyond its own operations, joining 20 other posts that are members of the International Post Corporation, to create common GHG measurement and reporting standards for the postal sector. In 2009, Postmaster General John E. Potter joined the CEOs of these posts at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen to become the first service sector to commit to reducing its GHG emissions in absolute terms by 20 percent by 2020.We received the California Climate Action Registry's (CCAR) 2009 "Climate Champion" award for these efforts.

Note: FY 2008 USPS scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions are extrapolated using USPS calendar year 2007 and 2008 third-party-verified GHG emission reports submitted to The Climate Registry. USPS scope 3 emissions are not third-party-verified and represent a best estimate using available data.

Figure 1. USPS FY 2008 scopes 1, 2 and 3 GHG emissions (MMT CO2 eq)

As shown in Figure 1, USPS FY 2008 scopes 1, 2 and selected scope 3 category GHG emissions totaled 14.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMT CO2 eq.), and are primarily from four source activities:

1. Petroleum fuel used to transport mail in Postal Service-owned vehicles.
2. Petroleum fuel used by contracted transport vehicles (planes, trucks, cars, trains and ships).
3. Petroleum fuel used by USPS employees for business travel and commuting.
4. Electricity used in USPS facilities.

Achieving a 20 percent reduction to our annual scopes 1, 2 and selected scope 3 GHG emissions, using an FY 2008 baseline, equals 2.9 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMT CO2 eq) per year.
The Postal Service employs several strategies to: reduce facility energy costs and consumption; procure energy-efficient products; construct, operate and maintain energy-efficient facilities; and promote efficient energy use among employees. The highlights of these efforts are detailed below.

Strategies to measure, verify, report and benchmark corporate GHG emissions

The United States Postal Service is committed to establishing robust, automated and auditable corporate carbon accounting processes and information systems, with specific goals as follows:

-Improve information systems and data quality.

-Obtain annual third-party verification of GHG emissions via The Climate Registry and the International Post Corporation's Environmental Measurement and Monitoring System protocols.

-Publicly report annual GHG emissions in three ways:
1. The Climate Registry, scopes 1 and 2, using a calendar-year base.
2. The International Post Corporation, scopes 1, 2 and selected scope 3, using a calendar-year base.
3. The annual USPS Strategic Sustainability performance plan, scopes 1, 2 and 3 as defined by Executive
           Order 13514.

-Outperform the postal sector's average annual performance against the International Post Corporation's annual benchmarking assessment of carbon efficiency management performance of 21 postal operators using its environmental management and monitoring system.

Strategies for achieving scope 1 and 2 emission reductions

The majority of USPS baseline scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions come from electricity for buildings and vehicle petroleum use. Strategies focus around three major objectives:

1. Reduce non-renewable facility electricity purchases from the grid by 30 percent by FY 2015 against an FY 2003 baseline.

2. Reduce petroleum use in USPS-owned vehicles by 20 percent by FY 2015 against an FY 2005 baseline.

3. Increase alternative fuel use by 10 percent annually, where cost-effective, to include compressed natural gas, ethanol, biodiesel and other fuels.

Because the majority of scopes 1 and 2 GHG emissions come from electricity production - particularly from coal-burning electric plants –– the Postal Service intends to focus on reducing electricity purchases from the grid. In contrast, natural gas and propane generate far less GHG, so reduction of these fuels is less of a priority. There are several strategies for achieving each of these goals:

-Monitor energy use at our largest facilities.

-Perform annual energy and water audits on approximately 25 percent of the largest energy-consuming facilities.

-Engage employees via "Lean Green" teams to reduce facility energy and increase operational efficiencies, including powering down unused equipment and lights, and maintaining appropriate HVAC settings.

-Make building electricity reduction goals a part of key postal managers' pay for performance objectives.

-Implement energy conservation measures in all new construction and major renovations to achieve 30 percent better energy-efficiency than outlined by the ASHRAE 90.1-2004 standard, or achieve the best energy-efficiency that is also life-cycle cost-effective.

-Utilize renewable energy in selected cases where USPS is able to achieve life-cycle cost parity with electricity purchases from the grid.

Strategies for achieving selected scope 3 emission reductions

The USPS strategies for achieving selected scope 3 emissions focus around the following five objectives:

1. Reduce petroleum use by 20 percent by FY 2020 against an FY 2008 baseline in contract air transport, highway contract route transporters and employee-owned vehicles on rural routes.

2. Minimize petroleum use from federal employee travel by encouraging carpooling, adoption of good driver behaviors, maintenance of private automobiles, and utilization of public transportation in metropolitan areas.

3. Minimize employee business travel by expanding use of web-based employee training and web-based meetings.

4. Minimize transmission and distribution losses by reducing electricity purchases.

5. Minimize contracted waste disposal. This waste accounts for only about two percent of USPS scope 3 GHG emissions, but constitutes a significant cost and concern from Postal Service customers and the general public. Strategies to minimize contracted waste disposal focus on reducing waste to landfills by 50 percent by FY 2015 against an FY 2009 baseline. Every Postal Service district is an active EPA WasteWise Partner and the USPS is piloting "zero waste" programs at 21 of its large facilities and plants.

Reducing GHG emissions through cost-effective green fleet management

The Postal Service has the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the United States, and possibly the world. It also has the largest alternative-fuel-capable vehicle fleet in the nation (see Figure 2). The use of alternative fuels is integral to our overall sustainability strategy and is a critical component of our GHG reduction goal.

The Postal Service has been involved in alternative vehicle technologies for more than 100 years. In 1899, we used an electric vehicle to collect mail in Buffalo, NY. Electric vehicle technologies were tested throughout the early part of the twentieth century. In the 1970s, USPS became actively involved in alternative-fuel programs as a means of cutting energy costs.

Because alternative fuels distribution infrastructure is vital to the success of any alternative-fuel program, this is often the key to making a local USPS alternative-fuel vehicle fleet economically viable. In turn, a local postal fleet's fuel requirement, added to demand for alternative fuel, can help create the "critical mass" necessary to make operation of the infrastructure economical and sustainable.

Figure 2. USPS alternative-fuel vehicles (May 2010)

Natural gas vehicles - Compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles make up more than five percent of the Postal Service's current alternative-fuel vehicle fleet. With more than 3,300 of these vehicles, natural gas is viewed as one of the most practical alternative fuels in the near-term. The majority of the Postal Service's natural gas vehicles are converted versions of its long-life vehicles (LLVs). LLVs were built as gasoline vehicles, but in 1990 the USPS began converting a portion of its fleet to bi-fuel CNG/gasoline operation. When converted vehicles operate on CNG fuel, emissions pollutants are reduced significantly.

Alcohol-based fuel vehicles - The Postal Service first tested alcohol-fuel (methanol and ethanol) vehicles in 1980. The methanol fleet experienced numerous problems resulting from the corrosive nature of the fuel. Since those early field experiences, vehicle fuel system and exhaust emission-control technologies have improved greatly, as has alcohol fuel availability. Because of this, USPS has once again put alcohol vehicle fleets into service. We now have the largest ethanol-fuel-capable vehicle fleet in the U.S., utilizing almost two million gasoline gallon equivalents of alternative fuel in FY2009.

Liquefied petroleum gas vehicles - Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consists primarily of propane and some butanes taken from natural gas or petroleum refinery gas streams. Propane has long been used for space heating and other purposes in the U.S., and its use as a vehicle fuel expanded in the 1950s. There is today a large LPG distribution network in place in the United States. And, in some areas, supply is adequate to make the fuel a practical alternative for USPS vehicles. We currently have an LPG vehicle demonstration program in Key West, FL that uses 34 LLVs converted to run on LPG.

Electric vehicles - Historically, USPS has had a longer involvement with electric vehicles than any other alternative-fuel vehicle. The major issues that once held back this technology included power, range and, most of all, reliability. Maintenance costs also proved higher for electric vehicles than their conventional counterparts. However, advances in battery technology and control systems for electric vehicles led the Postal Service to re-examine electric vehicles for its fleet, and in the 1990s the USPS leased six battery-powered vans and deployed six LLVs that had been converted to electric propulsion. In 2000, we acquired 500 new electric vehicles in what was at the time the largest fleet purchase of electric vehicles of its kind. In December 2009, the Postal Service awarded five contracts to convert LLVs to electric power using the latest battery and propulsion systems. Prototypes from these suppliers will be tested on postal routes for operational and reliability performance for one year in the Washington, DC area.

Fuel cell vehicles - In June 2004, USPS began a multi-year test of a fuel cell vehicle for mail delivery in the Washington, DC area. It was the first commercial application of a fuel cell vehicle operating in the United States, and it coincided with the opening of the nation's first hydrogen pump at a retail gas station. Since 2008, USPS has been testing newer generation fuel cell vehicles in Irvine, CA and Washington, DC (see Figure 3). 

Figure 3. Fuel cell delivery vehicle in Irvine, CA            

Hybrid-electric vehicles - Hybrid technology appears to be a viable alternative to conventional vehicle technology, but its cost has hampered wide-scale adoption in the Postal Service. In 2009 and 2010, USPS received more than 900 hybrid administrative vehicles as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Near-term focus

The Postal Service is currently facing the most significant financial crisis in its history. Mail volume and revenue are declining rapidly, while the number of delivery points served continues to expand. Because of these challenges, USPS is focusing near-term sustainability efforts on implementing primarily low-cost, high-benefit initiatives that achieve sustainability goals, increase operational efficiencies and have a shorter return-on-investment period.

Despite our significant near-term financial challenges, we are committed to ensuring a viable and sustainable Postal Service for current and future generations.

*Footnotes