Inviting Arkansas - Index

Inviting Arkansas - invitingarkansas - Index

In the Conway Spotlight Caldwell Toyota Photography by Brandy Strain, Strain Photography
A “green” car dealership may sound like a
bit of an oxymoron, considering car exhaust
and the over utilization of fossil fuels are two
of the current top environmental concerns in
America. But Jay Caldwell, general manager
of Caldwell Toyota in the Conway area, is on
a mission to do the right thing for Mother
Earth. At this point, most cognizant citizens
understand the crisis our planet is facing and
are making efforts to turn around the damage
pollution has inflicted on environment. And a
quick visit to the dealership, easily located off
the freeway at the first Conway exit, reveals
that his efforts are both effective and based on
complete common sense.
With manufacturers pushing green initiatives
and energy costs rising, a number of businesses
have chosen to construct environmentally
sound buildings that follow Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.
The LEED program was created by the
U.S. Green Building Council and awards residential,
commercial, industrial or- in Caldwell
Toyota’s case- retail buildings with regular, silver,
gold or platinum certification if they meet
LEED criteria. Constructed with recycled and
renewable materials where ever possible. LEED
buildings in Arkansas include the Clinton
Presidential Library, the Heifer International
headquarters and Winrock International. Despite
the stereotypes of the car industry, Jay is
confident that his dealership will bring home
the gold after his LEED evaluation.
Although the gold LEED status requires lots
of environmental ingenuity, the decision for
Jay to switch to a more environmentally responsible
dealership was not a difficult one.
“It was just the right thing to do,” Jay said. “It
takes quite a bit more thought and design [to
create a green building], but is really not that
much more expensive. It’s nice to do the right
thing and be financially rewarded for it in the
long run,” he added.
After reviewing a design process Toyota proposed,
Jay was interested to find out more
about the revolutionary concept. “At first, we
thought they meant a ‘green’ color for the
dealership,” he joked. But after visiting the
first Toyota dealership to make the switch, located
near Dallas, Jay decided to pursue construction
“if he could afford it,” he laughed.
If all goes as expected, Caldwell Toyota will be
the first gold LEED retail building in the state
and only the 2nd auto dealer in the nation to
hold such an honor.
The father of four, Stella, 8; Kennedy, 7; Virginia,
4; and Camp, 6 months, is not only setting
a great example with his wife, Lacey, for
his kids, but for generations of children and
adults to come. As for going green with the
dealership, Jay considers it “absolutely the best
decision that we’ve made.” “No question,” he
added. “Can we all overnight turn into these
huge green people? The answer is obviously
no. But we can make changes in our lifestyles,”
Jay concluded “At Caldwell Toyota in Conway,
we reduce the waste we use, reuse the waste we
can and recycle the things we can.”
Jay has both his costumers and employees
best interest at mind. Here are a few quotes
from him about his dealership!
“our variable air volume system for heating and
air is amazing, as one big unit runs the entire
store. It has helped us achieve a huge amount of
energy conservation. Also, each individual office
has it’s own thermostat and windows, allowing
employees plenty of sunshine and personal
control over their thermal comfort.”
“The facility uses an 11,000 gallon cistern to
recycle rainwater and other condensation for landscape
irrigation, which allows us to use zero city
water in maintaining our grounds.”
“Seventeen Solatubes on the showroom floor and
back shop makes both the cars look just as good as
any other kind of light and provides natural light
for the shop workers”
“A car wash is a nice customer convenience item,
but the average car wash uses 28 gallons per wash.
ours uses three. We reuse and recycle all the water
in our car wash.”
“our shop uses byproducts from customer oil
changes as fuel for heating the building.
It’s the EPAs preferred method of disposal!”
“Each desk is equipped with a recycle bin, and
common areas share one garbage can. People
really have to think about what is recyclable and
what isn’t as tossing refuse into a can under their
desk is not an option.”
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Inviting Arkansas