Monday, December 7, 2009

Big goals for energy use established. Realistic?

The 2008 Sustainability Report tells us about USPS' goals concerning future energy use.

They are ambitious:
  • Reduce energy use in facilities 30% by 2015
  • Reduce vehicle petroleum use by 20% by 2015
  • Increase alternative fuel vehicle use by 10% by 2015
  • Reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions 20% by the year 2020.


What do you think? Can we meet these goals? What will it take? Comment here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

My facility is an old brick one room school house that is 180 years old deep in the heart of Amish country. Rent is so low that the landlord is not going to put in energy efficent windows and doors. The facility is very drafty and uses propane heat. Until the Postal Service decides to build or lease updated facilities in the small little rural areas, I do not see how we can help with reducing energy. Of course, this could be one of their ways to close offices across the country. The rent would be too high if they "upgraded".

Anonymous said...

There may be room for improvement in large, postal-owned facilities, but the small post offices in rural areas have already, for the most part, cut their utility bills as much as possible, since our budgets are so tight! Can the large facilities make improvements big enough to achieve these percentages company-wide?

Anonymous said...

I thinks we need to focus more on Core Business Area which is mailing and deliveries. Everything else may help us look good and folks are soon to forget what we do good when core business is not doing well. This is good goals if we get some extra funds to achieve this and also as a good citizen we need to look for better energy use and save the expenses to reduce drain out of funds we have.

Merk said...

I think these are admirable goals and can probably be reached depending on how the economy rebounds (or doesn't). If USPS has adequate revenue to replace vehicles with more fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles and to upgrade facilities with alternative energy equipment and energy efficient materials a lot of money can be saved over the long run. In small leased post office like those mentioned in previous posts, and my own, we just have to conserve where we can by turning off lights, using both sides of paper, closing blinds/curtains, turning down the heat and putting on a sweater, etc. Even small things we can do at work (and at home) can add up and make a difference.

Anonymous said...

during the past few weeks, the outside temp has taken a nosedive here in Denver. since these cost cutting measures have been imposed by headquarters, the dock heaters have NOT been turned on. So people are working their entire shifts in 50 degrees, while on the other side of the wall seperating the docks from the workroom floor people are sweating in 80 degrees. there is something wrong here. Of course, all summer the indoor temp was up to and over 80, what with the sunshine. Local control of the heat used to work just fine. Now headquarters, where they go home at 4:30 pm, controls work conditions for tour three and one.

Anonymous said...

I recall those days of "two worlds." The mail handlers on the dock worked in temps as high as 105 in the summer and 50 in the winter, all the while the clerks wore short sleeve shirts year round. When the clerks had to go to the dock they filed a grievance because management was "required to provide a suitable working environement" for the clerks so they would turn on the heat. Many small rural offices are instructed to turn their thermostats down to 50 when we leave, so when we come in to work...it's freezing until the room heats up. HQ, district, or the MPOO offices don't have this inconvience....so don't really see the unlateral desire to conserve energy.

Anonymous said...

Keep posting stuff like this i really like it