The world’s first purposely “green” designed car dealership opened in June, 2000 in northern Sweden by Ford dealer Per Carstedt, in conjunction with Ford, Mc Donald’s and Statoil. The environmentally friendly building contains a car dealership, a restaurant and a fuel station (Ford Motor Co. press release, 2000).

The GreenZone project demonstrates that by applying a combination of different environmental technologies, energy requirements can be reduced by between 60-70%. In addition to other sustainable technologies, the car showroom is equipped with a geo-thermal system and solar collectors, which regulate the heating of the building. An integral part of the system is the green sedum tile roofs which contribute to the climate control and water circulation system, which includes the use of rainwater. The Swedish firm of Veg Tech AB designed and installed the extensive greenroof of pre-vegetated sedum and moss tile mats on all three buildings.

The facility will be certified to ISO 14001, the worldwide environmental management standard and continuously monitored for further possible improvements relating to its environmental impact. Ford is the first automotive company to have achieved ISO 14001 certification also for all its manufacturing plants on a global basi