In 2014, The United States Postal Service began upgrading lighting at its Providence Rhode Island Processing and Distribution Center. The project, to be completed in 2015, involves a cross-functional team who are working with a local utility company to maximise energy efficiency incentives to introduce interior LED light fixtures and with wireless controls. A utility incentive payment allows for utility companies to work with large consumers to increase facility efficiency instead of the utility building more capacity.
This initiative will net a total annual saving of US$535,000 with a 5.3m kWh reduction in electricity use. This is equivalent to emissions from electricity use in 503 US homes each year. Prior to the upgrades the facility utilised 12.6m kWh of electricity annually. Firstly, the lighting upgrade will save 2m kWh per year and produce a return on investment of 60%. Utility data indicates that the lighting load has decreased by approximately 200,000 kWh per month and the US Postal Service has already received US$601,000 in incentive payments. Secondly, the initiative aims to save an additional 3.3m kWh from the HVAC upgrade with an incentive payment of US$55,000.
This initiative is one of the steps the US Postal Service is taking to achieve its goals of a 20% emissions reduction and a 30% reduction in energy intensity by 2020. Since 2003, it has reduced facility energy use by 31.4% and decreased its facility energy intensity (consumption per unit of floor space) by 32%.