The First "Green" Car Dealership
Here's the first "green" car dealership -- the 53,000-square-foot two-story Pat Lobb Toyota
in McKinney, Texas. The dealership has a car wash and an irrigation
system that uses recycled water and a heating system that runs in part
on waste oil from oil changes. Bike racks and preferred parking for
vanpools encourage car shoppers to "walk the walk."
It's
not surprising that this is a Toyota dealership, given Toyota's
leadership position in the hybrid market. But the last place I would
have expected it would be in Texas, the country's oil capital.
Gensler,
the architectural firm that designed the facilily, used 80 percent
recycled materials to construct the building's exterior and installed a
carpet containing recycled automotive windshield glass. Gensler is all
about designing with the environment in mind... and has pretty cool
site of its own.
Wouldn't it be nice if everything were designed like this?
(Thanks to AskPatty, which pointed out this entry on TreeHugger.com.)