Efficiencies save dealership thousands

Northland Toyota old site.

A Northland car dealership has found that switching to a better energy efficiency is saving them more than $3000 in power costs, despite moving to a new, bigger premises.

Northland Toyota moved from Carruth St in Whangarei to Porowini Ave in mid-2013 and has managed to drop its power consumption by 17.5 per cent, according to Philippa Woodward, Northland Toyota's customer relations manager.

She said that while the dealership is larger and had a water recycling system, the company was able to save power through a purpose-built premises.

"We have a larger floor area here, with a car wash, recycling unit and water tanks that require an electric pump which we didn't have at the old site," she said.

Lux metres were used in the workshop and dim and turn off lights when natural light gets to a certain level.

LED and fluorescent-efficient light bulbs were used throughout the dealership.

Motion sensors were used in offices and storage areas to turn lights off automatically and an energy-efficient HVAC system had reduced the use of air conditioning with master switches ensuring all lights were turned off at the end of the day.

Based on the average price of commercial electricity at 0.16 cents per kWhr, Northland Toyota was saving about $3355 a year in power costs, she said.

Northland Toyota was part of a nationwide drive by Toyota New Zealand to help dealers achieve Enviro-Mark Gold certification, through energy-saving projects. Since moving to Porowini Ave, Northland Toyota had also increased its recycling by 11 per cent, adding the shrink and bubble wrap that new vehicles and parts are protected by to other recycled products, helping make the Enviro-Mark Gold certification a reality.

The company was making savings with water.

"Most months the dealership's water bill is equivalent to a household, around $47.50 for 15,000 cubic metres. Most of the water used is collected from rainfall and the car wash water is recycled," Woodward said.

At construction, four 25,000 litre water tanks were installed to collect and hold rain water, which was used for the car wash, in the workshop and yard cleaning.

The 60,000 cubic metres of water saved on average each month is effectively available to the rest of the community and allows the supply authority to stretch its supply further.

Before the shift to the new premises, Northland Toyota was spending $175 on average a month on water.

With the recycling system in place it is saving about $127.50 a month or $1530 a year.