Motoring to Gold/Mation's first LEED Gold auto dealership

摘要

Studio Design-ST, Westland, Mich., was commissioned by the LaFontaine Auto Group to design the new space. A desire to make the new building more energy efficient was chief among the owners' concerns. Planning for the facility began in 2000, but it wasn't until 2005 that the dealership fully committed to going green. A 600,000 dollars geo-thermal heating and cooling system from Hardin Geotechnologies Inc., Indianapolis, helped drop annual operating costs by more than 50 percent. Wasco Skylight Products Inc., Sanford, Maine, supplied 85 double-dome insulated skylights to bathe the sales floor in natural light enhanced by ambient lighting when needed. The car wash recycles 85 percent of the water it uses, and the building has a white roof with a rainwater collection system. The dealership's interior steel structure is built with 70 percent recycled material.