Royal Mail has opened a new delivery office in Leeds in the UK that is powered entirely by renewable energy, with 19 electric delivery vans and an office heated by an air source heat pump.
The Harehills delivery office is one of only a few in Royal Mail’s network to use all-electric vans, which are charged on-site via a purchased 100% renewable electricity supply, making them zero-emission.
The delivery office’s air source heat pump works by transferring heat from the outside air to the water in a central heating system; it is over three times more energy efficient than a traditional gas or oil boiler, according to Royal Mail. The heat pump will save an estimated 15 metric tons of natural gas a year, equivalent to the energy needed to power three homes annually.
Helen Harper, customer operations manager at the Harehills Delivery Office, said, “We are thrilled to be the UK’s greenest delivery office and help on Royal Mail’s journey to being net zero by 2040. This will benefit our staff and our customers in Harehills, reducing air and noise pollution locally and making our office more energy- and cost-efficient.”
Royal Mail recently unveiled its 7,000th electric vehicle at a ceremony attended by Future of Roads Minister Lilian Greenwood. The company celebrated this milestone by announcing that it will invest in 1,800 more electric vans and supporting charging infrastructure over the next year. Almost half of the new vans will be built in the UK at Stellantis’s Ellesmere Port plant.
