WGEM.com: Quincy News, Weather, Sports, and RadioWalser Subaru Awarded LEED(R) Certification by U.S. Green Building Council

BURNSVILLE, Minn., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Walser Subaru was recently awarded LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for the design and construction of Walser Automotive Group's new Subaru dealership in Burnsville. Walser Subaru is the first LEED certified dealership in Minnesota and the only LEED certified Subaru dealership in America.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091113/CG11287)

Walser Subaru, which opened its doors in November of 2008 at 600 West 121st St in Burnsville, Minn., was designed to achieve LEED certification for site selection, water and energy efficiency, material use and a variety of other sustainable strategies.

"We are proud to have built this new Subaru dealership," said Walser Automotive Group's CEO, Paul Walser. "It is an important step in our journey to adopt sustainable business practices throughout our organization."

Sustainable design was one part of an overall approach that was respectful of its physical surroundings, the environment and the employees that would occupy the building. Some of the building's sustainable features include:

• Reduced Heat Island Effect
  • Walser Subaru's roof is white to help reflect sunlight rather than absorb it.
• Reused Materials
  • The car wash is made of refurbished parts from a previous Walser dealership.
  • All furniture inside the dealership was reused from a previous site.
• Low-Emitting Materials
  • The materials in the building contain low volatile organic compounds including the paint, furniture, adhesives and carpet.
• Water Efficiency
  • The building uses 46% less water than a conventional building by installing low consumption urinals, proximity sensors on all faucets and an irrigation system with a weather station that will only allow watering during optimum weather conditions, i.e. low winds, low humidity and is equipped with low volume heads.
  • The car wash is a water reclamation system. It holds the rinse water to be used as wash water.
• Green Power
  • Walser Subaru uses 100% wind power for all of its energy needs.
    

Duffy Engineering was the Walser Automotive Group's LEED consultant on this project.

About the Walser Automotive Group

The Walser Automotive Group is a privately-held, family-owned dealer group that has been a part of the Twin Cities business community for over 50 years. Walser has 12 automotive franchises and operates nine dealership locations in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. All dealerships practice "The Walser Way," an easy, innovative and customer-driven way to purchase a vehicle. The Walser Way was born from customer feedback and promises:

• Our Best Price First
• Negotiation Free Sales
• Commission Free Sales
  

For more information visit WalserSubaru.com.

About Subaru of America

Subaru of America, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. of Japan. Headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J., the company markets and distributes Subaru Symmetrical All-Wheel Drive vehicles, parts and accessories through a network of approximately 600 dealers across the United States. Subaru boasts the most fuel efficient line-up of all-wheel drive products sold in the market today based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy standards. All Subaru products are manufactured in zero-landfill production plants and Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. is the only U.S. automobile production plant to be designated a backyard wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation. For additional information visit www.subaru.com.

SOURCE Walser Automotive Group