Column: July 2008

GREEN TIPS: Finding eco-builders

By Mary Anne Shreve

Eco-vision: LaFontaine Buick/Pontiac/GMC/Cadillac

Alan Bloom, president and owner of Redford, Mich.–based Bloom General Contracting Inc., has built multimillion-dollar green dealerships from the ground up that use state-of-the-art technology. But, he emphasizes, any dealer “can implement sustainable materials or green building components to various degrees and levels of certification.”

Some dealers are skeptical about the whole thing, but when they tour facilities like the $16 million dealership Bloom built for the LaFontaine Automotive Group in Highland, Mich., “they say, ‘You know, actually I wouldn’t mind having some skylights in my building, too.’ ” Whether you’re building or rehabbing, going green has gotten easier as the number of trained pros and green building materials has multiplied.

Some pointers:

• Visit green stores to see the technology in action. Mark Miller, Mark Miller Toyota, Salt Lake City, who’s seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for his new green store, flew to Texas to tour Pat Lobb Toyota of McKinney and even visited a fast-lube shop in the Northeast. Among the ideas he brought home: 12-second hand dryers; computer-controlled dimmable fluorescent lights; and countertops made of recycled soda bottles.

• Ask your automaker for referrals. Builder Bloom says GM sends many of its dealers to him and has a dealer Web site with tips on best practices. Chrysler is developing a list of certified contractors and has architects to help dealers with green designs. Ford dealers can get info from Ford Land, which manages its corporate properties. And Toyota, Miller found, has “a lot of products and ideas.”

• Get a local builder with LEED credentials. Visit the American Institute of Architects’ architect finder (http://architectfinder.aia.org) or contact the Commercial Builders Council for referrals to local green builders (e-mail Kisha DeSandies at kdesandies@nahb.com).

• Talk to the builder’s other dealer clients. “You need to know that the builders will stand behind [the] product and come back to fix anything that doesn’t work,” says Kim Maxwell, general manager, Hill International Trucks, Washington, Pa., the 2006 USA Today Innovation Award winner.

• Emphasize your green priority to all involved—from electrical and mechanical engineers to architects. Miller says everyone on his project helped seek out ideas and materials. Some of their finds: skylights that rotate with the sun; walls constructed of a 90 percent recycled composite; and desks made of corn husks.

• Get more product info. The National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (www.naiop.org) has a buyer’s guide. And check www.oikos.com for info about green products and articles on green buildings.

• Realize there can be many reasons to go green. Maxwell’s rural location lacks access to city water, sewage, and natural gas, and is prone to electrical outages, so he had to improvise when he built a new store. Much of his focus was shrinking his lighting bill by such moves as using programmable energy-efficient bulbs. And thanks to the broad range of green technologies he used, the entire store can operate for 11 days if the power goes off.