OAKLAND, Calif. - Chevron Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of Chevron, has completed the largest solar power and energy efficiency project for the United States Postal Service at its mail center in northern California. According to the company, the project at the Oakland Processing and Distribution Center reduces the facility's power purchases by more than one third.

The Oakland project is one of dozens that Chevron Energy Solutions is developing at mail facilities throughout California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii under a multi-year contract with the Postal Service. In northern California alone, at major postal centers in San Francisco, West Sacramento, and other locations, these high-efficiency and alternative power improvements are expected to save the Postal Service more than $2 million per year in energy costs.

"The cost savings from these energy-efficient improvements are great enough to fund not only the equipment installations, but also renewable power systems," said Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions. "We commend the U.S. Postal Service for implementing viable, market-driven projects that are helping to meet the rising global demand for energy in ways that benefit the environment."

The 910-kilowatt solar power system - the largest installed to date at a federal building - spans a rooftop area nearly the size of two football fields, and it will help meet electric demand during peak periods. Other energy-efficient upgrades on-site include high-quality lighting systems that improve work areas for Postal Service employees; motion-sensor technologies that automatically control where light is used; three 300-ton centrifugal chillers - which eliminate ozone-depleting CFC refrigerants from the facility - and other HVAC systems; a new energy management system to control HVAC equipment; high-efficiency air compressors; and water conservation measures.

The improvements at the facility, the largest of its kind in northern California, are expected to lower total annual electricity purchases by almost 11 million kilowatt hours. This reduced demand for power translates to 7,400 fewer tons of carbon dioxide emitted by the local electric utility annually - the same volume of carbon dioxide that would be absorbed by planting more than 2,000 acres of trees.

The Oakland project was installed as part of a contract with Chevron Energy Solutions that included energy efficiency improvements at Postal Service facilities in Berkeley, San Leandro, and Livermore. The $18 million total cost of all these installations is funded primarily by $10.1 million in energy savings, $4.5 million from the USPS's CFC refrigerant replacement program, and $3.4 million from Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which administers the state's incentive programs for self-generation and efficiency improvements in northern and central California.

For more information about Chevron Energy Solutions, visit www.chevronenergy.com.

Publication date: 11/13/2006