2 December 2004 - In the next phase of its national programme to optimize efficiency and conserve natural resources, the US Postal Service (USPS) announced Wednesday that Chevron Energy Solutions will complete major energy efficiency upgrades and a hybrid renewable power plant -- including a fuel cell and two solar electric technologies -- at the USPS's largest processing and distribution facilities in San Francisco.

Together the two mail facilities -- the San Francisco Processing & Distribution Centre (P&DC) and Embarcadero Postal Centre (EPC) -- comprise 1.2 million square feet, employ about 3000 people and process 7.5 million pieces of mail daily. Both facilities operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The USPS is the largest employer in San Francisco's Bay View/Hunter's Point district, where the P&DC is located.

Chevron Energy Solutions, a ChevronTexaco subsidiary, will develop, engineer and construct the project over the next year. The work will involve numerous energy efficiency measures, including new energy management and compressed air systems, lighting retrofits and comprehensive heating, ventilation and air conditioning system upgrades. At the P&DC, a 680 000- square-foot facility, Chevron Energy Solutions will also install high- efficiency natural gas cooking equipment for the cafeteria, and a new hybrid solar/fuel cell power plant comprised of a 250 kW fuel cell; 185 kW of crystalline-silicon solar panels mounted on a parking canopy that will track with the sun; and 100 kW of flexible, amorphous-silicon, roof-mounted solar panels.

The improvements at both facilities will lower total annual electricity purchases by $1.2m or 10 million kWh - a 46 per cent reduction. In addition, the energy efficiency upgrades will reduce the P&DC's and EPC's heating needs by 69 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively. In total, these improvements translate to avoided local electric utility emissions of about 6600 tons of carbon dioxide annually, the equivalent of planting about 1860 acres of trees.

"These facility upgrades are an important step in the Postal Service's efforts to reduce its energy consumption nationwide and to use more renewable energy," said Ray Levinson, USPS's interim national environmental program manager. "Project by project, we're making a positive impact on our environment and our operating costs, while at the same time helping to secure America's energy resources."

The $15m cost of the project will be wholly funded by energy savings, contributions from the USPS's CFC refrigerant replacement program, and more than $2.6m in grants and incentives from the US Department of Defence and the State of California.

The San Francisco project is part of a larger USPS contract with Chevron Energy Solutions to install energy efficiency improvements at mail facilities throughout Northern California. CES recently completed improvements at the USPS processing facility in West Sacramento, and is upgrading facilities in Colfax, Marysville, Oakland, San Jose, Stockton, Vacaville, Winters and other Northern California locations. Together these improvements will save the Postal Service more than $2m per year in energy costs. In addition, the USPS has contracted with CES to install improvements at its Memphis, Tennessee mail processing facilities.