It may seem like a contradiction for a car dealership to go green, but a local Toyota dealer, Caldwell Toyota-Scion had the Grand Opening for the first green LEED certified retail store in Conway, Arkansas on Thursday.
Caldwell Toyota has built a remarkably efficient building and has a very real commitment to recycling and sustainability. Jay Caldwell has made the facility available to green and sustainability organizations for tours, and a field trip to the facility has been made part of a sustainability class at UCA. Read Caldwell's Green Story
The "green" features of the new dealership include:
-- Waterless urinals that each save approximately 40,000 gallons of water per year.
-- A runoff collection system that collects roof runoff and air conditioner condensation in an 8,600-gallon cistern for landscape irrigation.
-- A carwash recycle system that reclaims water from the automatic carwash that recycles 80 to 90 percent of the water used to wash a car.
-- Carwash reverse osmosis that rinses each vehicle with "spot free" water, which reduces the amount of water that is left on each vehicle to evaporate or drip off. This saves two to three gallons of water per wash and also removes the necessity of using 45 hp blowers to dry each vehicle, saving an amazing amount of energy (and noise).
-- Light controls that have occupancy sensors (turning off lights in areas with no activity after a specified period of time).
As I mentioned, it is a bit of a contradiction for a car dealership to build a sustainable building, given the inherent unsustainable and linear nature of resource usage by the auto industry in it's present state.
None the less, it is gratifying to see a car dealer willing to tackle sustainability head on, and I suppose it should come as no surprise that it was a Toyota dealer who made that first leap, given the impressive investments Toyota has made in hybrid and alternative technologies and the commitment Toyota has to recycling and efficiency in it's industrial practices.
If any auto manufacturer is most likely to solve the problem of linear usage of resources, Toyota is my bet.
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