The U.S. Postal Service has signed a $28.7 million contract to install energy-management systems in up to 2,250 post offices as part of its plan to cut energy costs 30 percent by 2015 from 2003 levels, reports Bloomberg Businessweek.
GridPoint's energy management systems help organizations track and manage energy consumption and reduce operating costs across multi-site facility networks.
The submetering system monitors the energy use of various devices, including lighting and heating and cooling systems, and the energy management systems, which operate independently within buildings, are connected to a centralized system run by the Postal Service, reports The Washington Post.
GridPoint said it will install equipment in up to 750 post offices in the first year, with an option for two one-year extensions to install systems in an additional 750 locations each year.
Rob McNiece, manager of the service's energy program management told Bloomberg Businessweek that the Postal Service has already cut expenses 21 percent and the new installations could cut another three to five percent. The service spent about $630 million on energy last year.
Peter Corsell, GridPoint's chairman and chief executive officer, also said in the article that the systems will allow the Postal Service to power down equipment when it is unneeded, and shift the use of mail-sorting machinery and other devices to off-peak hours when electricity is less expensive.
The new contract follows a pilot program at 16 locations that helped the Postal Service achieve significant savings in energy consumption. The pilot reduced energy consumption by nearly 15 percent at the facilities, and up to 30 percent at some sites, reports The Washington Post.
GridPoint says most customers realize a payback on their investment in less than 24 months.
In January, the Postal Service awarded three contracts worth $29 million to Lime Energy to make its facilities on the East Coast more energy efficient.