Green Mail
A 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 100 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
Times the trucks arrived on 12/2/11
9:51 – USPS with about 150 packages
10:43 – FedEx with about 40 packages
10:55 – UPS more than 300 packages
???? – DHL
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
The cost to Corporations will be reduced
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
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]
5000
Ibs/year of CO2
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0.0
10.0
20.0
CO2 Relased per year by 1 truck
30.0
40.0
Minutes of Ideling
50.0
60.0
CO2 Relased per year by 3 trucks
[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, Political, Economic, cultural trends:
• Cooperation
• Money
• Greener companies look good
politically
• People like companies that are cheaper
and are more environmentally friendly
Social Alliances:
• Students at RPI who want to
make RPI a green campus.
• Environmentalists
Logistics
FedEx
USPS
UPS
DHL
RPI
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 Perdercini 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