U.S. Postal Service Observes National Energy Action Month

"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 goals, including:

• Reduction of facility energy use by 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.

Energy Action Month is a national effort to focus attention on steps to reduce energy use. Customers can go to the Energy Action Month webpage at usps.com/green for green tips, games, resources and ideas, including energy-saving pledges.

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, The Climate Registry Gold award in 2011 and the 2012 GreenGov Presidential Award.

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 compared to 2008.

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

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.

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