Auto dealership goes green starting in May

Bethesda-based Fitzgerald joins others in using wind-generated electricity

‘‘For an organizational response to climate change, providing green power sources is one of the most effective things they could do,” said Blaine Collison, a spokesman with the EPA. ‘‘The issue is reducing carbon emissions.”

Other Maryland companies using only wind-generated electricity include Silver Spring printing company Ecoprint, Rockville real estate company The Tower Cos. and My Organic Market, also in Rockville.

The EPA has recognized Fitzgerald as the first U.S. automobile dealer to be designated a Green Power Partner.

The EPA’s Green Power Partnership program includes nearly 700 organizations, with 14 in Maryland, that purchase ‘‘green power” as a way to reduce the environmental impacts associated with conventional electricity generation.

Green Power Partners nationwide bought 8.8 billion kilowatt hours last year from utilities and green power vendors, said Collison, reducing carbon dioxide emissions equal to that produced by more than 1.2 million cars each year.

Switching to wind power will cost Fitzgerald about $30,000 more than electricity from carbon-based fuels, said Jack Fitzgerald, chairman and president. But he said he wants the company to set a good example for its customers.

‘‘If we are going to ask our customers to consider ethanol and other alternative fuels for our automobiles, then we should also do something, too,” he said.

The switch to wind power is also an investment in the future of a fledgling industry, Fitzgerald said.

‘‘The wind power folks will get better and better for what they are doing. It will drive down competition. There is plenty of competition to sell cars and that makes me do things to help my customers,” he said.

Fitzgerald’s dealerships also recycle 80 percent of their incoming materials, he said, including oil, tires, scrap metal, fluorescent light tubes and tires, totaling 2,184,553 pounds in 2006.

‘‘I think it is worth it,” he said.

Another company using wind-generated power is Austin Grill, which has seven restaurants in the Washington, D.C., region. The Tex-Mex chain pays $40,000 more annually for wind energy, said Chris Patterson, president and COO.

The Tower Cos. ranks 24th on the EPA’s national list of top Green Power Partners by using 79 million kwh of wind power in 2006. That is enough to power more than 6,400 average American homes each year, Collison said. The company, which also develops energy-efficient buildings, won an EPA Green Power Leadership Award in 2003.

But while Tower’s use of wind power has increased, Ecoprint has deliberately cut its use by turning a brighter shade of green, said Roger Telschow, founder and president.

‘‘The 65,000 kilowatt hours we used in 2005 went down to 51,400 in 2006 because we lowered our energy needs with reduced zone lighting and heating and limiting air conditioning needs,” Telschow said.

Last year, Ecoprint reduced its electricity needs by 13 percent while increasing sales by 22 percent, he said.

Ecoprint was among the first companies to sign up for wind-generated electricity when Washington Gas Energy Services of Herndon, Va., began offering it in late 2002.

‘‘A lot of us entrepreneurs are pretty restless and when you have finally jumped over the onslaught of getting your business reasonably stable, that is not enough for some of us,” Telschow said. ‘‘I am doing something for our customers and employees that helps them. It is a lot more satisfying that we are doing something to set a standard for our industry.”

The U.S. printing industry, with about 40,000 companies, is dominated by small companies that are not usually inspected by regulators, he said, leading to ‘‘lots of waste products generated to the air, land and water.”

Other EPA Green Partners in Maryland use conventional, along with sustainable, energy sources, but are still making big strides, said the EPA’s Collison.

‘‘In Maryland there are fairly impressive array of stores of national companies, such as Staples, Safeway and Whole Foods in Green Partners,” he said.

Besides Fitzgerald Auto Malls, Austin Grill, The Tower Cos., MOM’s, and Ecoprint, others in the EPA’s Green Power Leadership Club include the corporate headquarters of Brick Co., an Edgewater real estate company, the nonprofit Thorpe Foundation of Thurmont and Lockheed Martin’s Washington metro operations. The club members meet at least 20 percent of their energy needs from alternative sources.