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August 31, 2008

Car dealer goes green

New facility has wind turbine, solar glass and light harvesting system

By Meghan McCormick

The newest Marc Heitz Chevrolet franchise at the southwest corner of Interstate 35 and Lindsey Street is painted blue on the outside, but the dealership was built using "green" ideas.

"We did lots of green features to save money, save resources and pass those on to customers," Heitz said at the dealership's opening day Friday.

He said a wind turbine, solar glass and light harvesting system are all changes that will better the environment.

The construction was done to "lower the dependence on the current form of energy," he said.

As part of that initiative, workers from Bergey Windpower Company installed a wind turbine system Friday to reduce the building's dependence on electrical power.

Mike Bergey, president of Bergey Windpower Co., said the turbine is a Bergey 10 kW on a 100 ft. lattice free-standing tower. This is the first new wind turbine installation in Norman in two decades.

"It is specifically designed to reduce home or business electric bills," Bergey said. "The whole facility has been designed to be energy efficient and 'green.' The wind turbine is just one aspect of many things that they have done."

He said that puts Marc Heitz Chevrolet ahead of most of the dealers in the industry in terms of making environmental footprints.

"I think that's what people are looking for these days and I think it was smart move on their part," he said.

Bergey said the wind turbine power is supported by a very large concrete block in the ground. That is necessary during storm conditions.

"The forces on the wind turbine and on the power are quite large. It has to have a strong foundation. That's the biggest part of the project," he said.

Bergey said the power equipment arrived earlier in the week. The turbine weighs about 1,000 pounds and has a 22-foot rotor diameter.

"It will start providing power at about 8 mph and will continue to generate even in the strongest winds. This is a best selling product around the country and around the world. But it is unusual for us to sell one in Oklahoma. It's kinda neat to have something for environmental technology built in Norman," he said.

Heitz said he researched wind turbines before he contacted Bergey.

"Initially, we were concerned with height requirements," he said.

The dealership is only a few miles from the airport, and Heitz didn't want the equipment to interfere with aircraft.

"We think we got a great site for people to see," he said.

Heitz isn't finished transforming his business into an environmentally friendly atmosphere.

He said he wants to be able to add an E-85 or ethanol fueling station to the business. There are 12,000 vehicles registered to owners within a 5-mile radius of the dealership that run on ethanol.

It would be the first in the Norman area to offer the fuel, he said.

"Each part we have done is going to generate thought and help people," he said.

Bergey said the turbine was installed Friday but won't be fully operational for about three weeks.

Meghan McCormick 366-3539 mmccormick@normantranscript.com

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