Postal Service Saves Energy With Manhattan’s Largest Green Roof

In greening its snail-mail business, the U.S. Postal Service reports dramatic progress in reducing its energy use through efforts such as installing the largest green roof in New York City, according to an article from USA TODAY.

The Postal Service, which has solar rooftop panels on some facilities and an entire fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles, has reduced its energy use 21% since 2003 and is two-thirds of the way toward meeting its goal of reducing energy use 30% by 2015, according to a recent announcement.

A key effort, it reports, is the 2.5-acre green roof on its Morgan mail processing facility in Manhattan, installed last year and expected to last 50 years or twice as long as its predecessor.

"A year ago, the Postal Service projected the green roof would help the Morgan facility save $30,000 in annual energy expenses," said Tom Samra, the Postal Service’s vice president of facilities. "We’re pleased to have surpassed that goal, saving more than $1 million since the implementation of the green roof and other energy-saving measures at Morgan."

Samra said the Morgan facility also replaced 1,600 windows and is pursuing certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program. He noted there are already LEED-certified postal facilities in Denver, Colo., Southampton, N.Y., Greenville, S.C., and Troy, Mich.

The Postal Service, which has won dozens of environmental awards from the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency, installed an energy-management system last year that enables it to more closely monitor energy performance at its 33,000 facilities.

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