U.s. bank, named greenest by bank technology
news, encourages all to “go paperless” for earth day
Minneapolis--(business wire)--with earth day around the corner on april 22, u.s. bank is encouraging everyone to switch over to electronic bills, statements and payments. by doing so, the average household can avoid wasting 6.6 pounds of paper annually, preserving about 20 square feet of forest land as a result. you can calculate your financial paper footprint and learn how to go paperless by going to payitgreen.org, an organization for which u.s. bank was a founding member. u.s. bank is not just creating opportunities for others to make changes. it is continually evolving its own business practices to become more energy efficient as part of its environmental sustainability policy, and was designated by the environmental protection agency as an energy star® partner. in acknowledgement of its efforts, u.s. bank was recently recognized as one of america’s greenest banks by bank technology news. it’s currently in the process of upgrading more than 87,000 computer hardware devices to more energy efficient equipment throughout its 3,050 regional branches, in-store and customer support facilities across 25 states. in addition, it is collecting energy and environmental data on u.s. bank-owned sites to pinpoint areas for further energy reductions. it also recently built new branches to leed-compliant specifications in oregon, wisconsin, california, illinois, minnesota, tennessee, missouri and nebraska, and earlier this month, turned off its lights at u.s. bank regional corporate offices throughout the country in support of earth hour. for customers, u.s. bank was the first major bank to introduce an auto loan that offers a half-percent rate reduction for “smart way” vehicles certified by the epa as environmentally-friendly. customers are also rewarded with the best loan rates if their payments are automatically deducted from their checking account. additionally, by year-end 2010, u.s. bank had invested more than $2 billion in environmentally-beneficial business opportunities such as renewable energy, and leed-certified commercial real estate. lisa o'brien, senior vice president and director of environmental affairs at u.s. bank, says, “our work is ongoing as we strive to integrate green behaviors into our daily work practices, products and services.” she said many u.s. bank employees are engaged in going green and are taking part in environmental training, cleanup and tree planting projects u.s. bank has scheduled in support of earth day. u.s. bancorp (nyse: usb), with $311 billion in assets as of march 31, 2011, is the parent company of u.s. bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the united states. the company operates 3,082 banking offices in 25 states and 5,238 atms and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. visit u.s. bancorp on the web at www.usbank.com.
