Green MailA Delivery Revolution

Founded by: Jon Soucy, Jeremy Spitz, Brittany Wolfe

Opening Story

Paolo gets around 30 pieces of mail a semester which amounts of to over 300 dollars in fuel cost while at the same time releasing about 120Ibs of CO2 into the atmosphere

Facts and Figures

The closest Sorting Faculty from RPI• FedEx: 148 miles• UPS: 140 miles• USPS: not public information

That’s traveling over 50,000 miles per year per vehicle so with an average of 19mpg that’s about 8000 gallons of gas used between the three companies

20Ibs of CO2 is released per gallon of gas used so that’s 170,000Ibs of CO2 released just delivering packages to RPI with the current system of mailing

Purpose Statement

Green Mail is an organization that’s goal is to consolidate mail deliveries at colleges around the country. Fewer trips means that cost would go down and there would be less carbon emissions.

Aims

• Lower emissions of the mailing system• Lower the cost to shipping

corporations • Reduce the number of vehicles so as

to create a greener campus

Rationale

• Every day FedEx, USPS, and UPS arrive on campus within an hour of each other

9:51 – USPS with about 150 packages10:43 – FedEx with about 40 packages10:55 – UPS more than 300 packages???? – DHL

Times the trucks arrived on 12/2/11

Could easily fit onto 1 truck • 10,000Ibs payload means that if packages

weigh on average 20Ibs each so one truck can hold 500 packages, the number our school gets per day

More Rationale

As of December 1st 2011 the Cost of a gallon of Diesel Fuel in the Capital area of New York is $4.18

Supplying fuel to 3 trucks to travel RPI (about 140 miles) every year would cost $677,000, but with only one truck it would be $225,000 which amounts to a savings of $452,000 annually for these corporations

The cost to Corporations will be reduced

And lowering the consumption of gas, a limited resource which will run out eventually, means less CO2 emissions

Cleaning the Air

.625Ibs of CO2 is released into the atmosphere for ever 10 minutes a delivery truck is idling [1]

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

0

500

1000

1500

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2500

3000

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CO2 Relased per year by 1 truck

CO2 Relased per year by 3 trucksMinutes of Ideling

Ibs/

year

of C

O2

[1] http://daq.state.nc.us/motor/idle/idle_FAQs.shtml

RPI Mail Services Sustainability Goal

http://www.rpi.edu/dept/mailservices/index.html

The Why and the How

Why we chose RPI:• Already there are groups on campus that are a part of a “Go Green” movement

and would be willing to expand to include “Green Mail” Groups include Ecologic and EcoEd which both promote sustainability

• Being students at RPI, it is easier to find information on how the mailing system works.

• Sustainability degrees are now available at RPI Designed for students to research problems with the environment, what’s

causing it, and how to fix the problem.

Source of Funds:Since we need little funds we can get most of what we need from the Student Union Club Budget which starts at $125, which will likely be enough to cover all of our costs.

Stakeholders

• United States Postal Service, UPS, and FedEx Corporations Already working on going green and would be more likely to go with the “Green

Mail” project because of this. • Students

Have a strong voice when it comes to getting things to happen• The Union Administrative Person

Person who would either accept or deny the club’s application has a big influence on the project.

• Ecologic and EcoEd Both are sustainability clubs at RPI , and would provide support to the new “Green

Mail” club.• Sustainability Majors

Already work to develop sustainability projects; would be good to have this group of students were to work with the “Green Mail” club.

Involvement

Expertise Needed: Transportation Engineers

• Xuegang (Jeff) Ban• Jose Holguin-Veras• William Wallace• Xiaokun (Cara) Wang

Social Alliances:• Students at RPI who want to

make RPI a green campus. • Environmentalists

Social, Political, Economic, cultural trends: • Cooperation • Money • Greener companies look good

politically • People like companies that are cheaper

and are more environmentally friendly

Logistics

FedEx

RPI

UPS

USPS

DHL

Timeline

Phase1: Form a Club at the selected College (RPI)

Phase2: Contact professors and seek out information to begin working on the logistic for the particular college

Phase3: Have a meeting with representatives from the delivery companies that you are focusing on

Phase4: Collect information over a period of 6 months to determine how the new mailing structure is working and if money is saved and carbon emissions are down

Phase5: Go to other colleges around the country to present them with the idea of Green Mail and give them the tools and information they need to implement it

Phase6: If large corporations see the success of Green Mail in the college environment, they could then work on implementing Green Mail themselves.

More than an organization

Green Mail is an idea and can be implemented anywhere there are enough people in one place, information as to how you can start Green Mail will be available online.

Examples of places where Green Mail could work:

End Story

Paolo Pedercini still receives 30 pieces of mail a semester

• Now 1 vs. 3

• Less CO2 emissions and lower cost

• Paolo joined Green Mail

• Green Mail’s outreach programs were successful

Questions