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If you're driving down Highway 99 in Richmond you won't miss the MINI Richmond Dealership storefront with its eye-catching, spice-orange MINI breaking through the wall. Up above, on the roof, is another visual stunner: a 41.16 kilowatt solar array, designed and installed by Terratek Energy.

This isn't the first foray into renewable energy for the Auto West Group, owner of MINI Richmond. Terratek also installed solar PV (electric) and a wind turbine at their other dealership, Auto West BMW, where a recycling building was also built to house the solar array. Included are a number of sustainable features from a green roof and geo-exchange system to in-ground storage for reclaiming storm water.

"We sleep well at night," admits Pete Sargent, Project Development Manager, referring to steps they've taken to offset the carbon emissions that are a natural consequence of any car dealership. "We just want to be a good corporate citizen within the City of Richmond," he explains. "We want to look at ways of reinvesting in our community to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can. It's the right thing to do."

While it is the right thing to do it's still a cutting-edge way of thinking and unfortunately not the mainstream way of life yet for big businesses, where the bottom line often weighs in as the highest priority. But this type of renewable energy leadership is what president Joachim Neumann and the Auto West Group is all about. According to Landon Aldridge, principal of Terratek Energy, the renewable energy company that designed and installed the systems, solar PV and the MINI Richmond Dealership are a natural compliment. "The BMW and MINI brands are really at the forefront of exciting technology and PV is a perfect match with that corporate vision," he says.

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The other obvious reason to tie a PV array into the MINI Richmond Dealership was the roof potential. It's a vast, south facing space – ideal conditions for this type of installation. "It was a huge roof line," Pete agrees. "We didn't want to just leave it grey. It was a substantial investment but at some point someone has to step up to the plate, and we want to be the ones that do. It's not just about the money, it's not just about Return on Investment in a year or two."

Landon appreciates this perspective of ROI, adding that companies like Auto West understand the need to treat PV systems as we do utilities, since the solar array will produce a large portion of MINI's power over the next 30 years. "You'll never pay less than you do right now for electricity," he says. "In the near future the cost to produce power with solar will actually be less than what we pay from the grid. Grid rates will continue to increase while solar rates stay the same."

While Pete says he's not sure grid rates will rise enough for them to see a return on investment before retirement, that's really not the point. The point is changing the corporate and consumer mind-set from dollar driven decisions to sustainable energy choices. "Everyone talks green but the reality is the cost of going green is expensive. Despite the higher cost we hope that the long term effect is that customers will begin to align themselves with businesses that are in tune with the environment."

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Pete's favourite part of the system is the very stylish and public energy-monitoring site. The site appeals to everyone from a tech-gadget aficionado to a less computer-savvy individual. There's everything from a dashboard and bar graph of kWh power generation to a nifty moving energy gauge and easy-to-read updates of carbon offsets and environmental equivalents. Today, for example, the system has saved enough energy to power a TV for 56,630.63 hours and counting.

"It's great to see how many trees we have saved," says Pete, adding that they are pushing to be recognized within BMW worldwide, and have applied to be one of the world's most sustainable BMW dealerships. During all of this, they've had their fair share of press but the accolades only go so far. "The recognition is great," says Pete, "But we're doing this because we want to leave a legacy and show other auto dealerships that you don't just have to follow profits and run. You can also look out for the environment and your community."

View more photos of the installation at the BMW dealership here.