It's What's On Top That Counts

With the large number of assets needed by the world's major expedited and express delivery providers to best serve their customers, it's small wonder they all are taking responsible measures to reduce energy use. Results are reduced expenses as well as helping to clean the air in their parts of the globe.

Lighting up has made it easier to be green for these companies. One step among many UPS, FedEx and DHL have undertaken is to deploy solar technology on the roofs of their facilities around the world.

At its 23,000-square foot Palm Springs, Calif., sorting facility, UPS employs a 104.5-kilowatt solar panel array system to produce 70% of all electricity the building requires. Shell Solar installed the system on the rooftop. The array consists of three rows of 145 panels, a total of 864 individual modules.

Sorting operations at the facility occur in the late evening or early morning, when the sun isn't shining. As a result, solar energy generated by the array isn't used directly during sorting. Instead, solar energy generated during daylight hours is sent to the California power grid. As energy is required during hours of darkness, energy from the grid is used. This type of exchange is called “net metering.” UPS claims it achieves almost zero kilowatt per hour of annual consumption.

UPS explains that, in addition to gaining insight and experience with the use of solar technology, the array has exceeded expectations in producing 4.9% more power than was expected. Further, the company has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 1 million pounds since its installation in 2003.

Further north in California, in 2005, FedEx Express activated a solar array at its West Coast hub at Oakland. It included 300,000 Sharp solar cells incorporated into 5,769 photovoltaic modules. The 904-kilowatt system is able to meet 80% of the facility's peak energy demand. In all, the 5,700 solar electric panels that comprise the system cover some 81,000 square feet. An additional benefit is that the panels provide some extra insulation, helping to reduce heating and cooling costs.

FedEx claims that 3 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy have been generated by the system through its three years of operation with avoidance of 1,000 tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. The company has created additional solar systems, from BP Solar, at its California facilities in Whittier and Fontana.

FedEx Express has broken ground on a new Central and Eastern European hub at the Cologne/Bonn German airport. Planned to be completed in 2010, the new facility will have a 1.4-megawatt solar power system that will generate 1.3 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year. Solar panels will cover the roof of new ramp and sort facilities, a total surface area of 16,000 square meters.

Mitch Jackson, the company's director of environmental affairs and sustainability, observes, “On-site renewable energy generation has been extremely efficient and successful for FedEx, and we are continuously looking for new investments. The solar energy installation at the Cologne hub will nearly double FedEx's use of on-site solar energy.”

Further east in Germany, DHL opened its new European air freight hub at the Leipzig/Halle airport in late May. In creating the facility, the carrier gave special attention to environmental protection, one aspect of which is a photovoltaic unit containing 1,000 square meters of solar cells on the roof of the workshop. DHL expects to receive 100,000 kilowatts of electricity per year from the array. Further, it expects to save 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year by combining savings from its unique heat and power plant with the photovoltaic system.