Athena in the News
Dealership Puts Technology to Use
March 1, 2006Author: Zaz Hollander
Publisher: Anchorage Daily News
Reference URL: http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/7533996p-7445709c.html
Alaska dealership uses new technology to control building systems
WASILLA -- A computer controls just about everything at the new Valley headquarters for Alaska Sales and Service: energy use, water treatment, how warm the sidewalks get -- everything but the intercom that pages employees.
"It's a regular good old-fashioned loudspeaking system," said service manager Jack Jackson, who decided that hearing your name hollered out loud is a lot more effective than a silent page.
In business in Alaska since 1944, the dealership sells Buick, Pontiac, GMC, commercial and GM-certified used vehicles. The company had a store in the Valley until the mid-1970s, then returned in 2001 with a purchase of Valley Motors.
The dealership outgrew the location on Blue Lupine Drive, which covered about 11,600 square feet, according to a borough database.
The new facility, about five minutes south on Blue Lupine, is 65,000 square feet and the most advanced GM dealership on the West Coast, according to Jackson. The new building, assessed by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough at $6.3 million, is state-of-the-art, company officials say. A ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday celebrated the grand opening.
A self-contained water treatment system recycles wastewater generated by the facility's brushless car wash or rinsed into drains. Jackson described the self-monitoring system as a miniature municipal water-treatment plant that uses bacteria or "biodigesters" to eat oil, antifreeze and other contaminants.
It's the only one in the state and one of 200 around the country, he said.
Recycled waste oil heats the building, concrete floors, outdoor aprons and sidewalks. Reusing waste oil is standard in the auto industry. This system uses the heat generated to warm glycol that circulates through a network of tubes buried in concrete floors and sidewalks.
The computer controls lighting, scheduled to go on and off automatically, and building temperature.
"This place, it's like the HAL 9000," Jackson said, referring to the nefarious upstart computer star in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey."
"People come to me ... 'In my office it's cold.' The computer 'thought' they were too warm." Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached at the Daily News Wasilla office at zhollander@adn.com or 352-6711.
WASILLA -- A computer controls just about everything at the new Valley headquarters for Alaska Sales and Service: energy use, water treatment, how warm the sidewalks get -- everything but the intercom that pages employees.
"It's a regular good old-fashioned loudspeaking system," said service manager Jack Jackson, who decided that hearing your name hollered out loud is a lot more effective than a silent page.
In business in Alaska since 1944, the dealership sells Buick, Pontiac, GMC, commercial and GM-certified used vehicles. The company had a store in the Valley until the mid-1970s, then returned in 2001 with a purchase of Valley Motors.
The dealership outgrew the location on Blue Lupine Drive, which covered about 11,600 square feet, according to a borough database.
The new facility, about five minutes south on Blue Lupine, is 65,000 square feet and the most advanced GM dealership on the West Coast, according to Jackson. The new building, assessed by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough at $6.3 million, is state-of-the-art, company officials say. A ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday celebrated the grand opening.
A self-contained water treatment system recycles wastewater generated by the facility's brushless car wash or rinsed into drains. Jackson described the self-monitoring system as a miniature municipal water-treatment plant that uses bacteria or "biodigesters" to eat oil, antifreeze and other contaminants.
It's the only one in the state and one of 200 around the country, he said.
Recycled waste oil heats the building, concrete floors, outdoor aprons and sidewalks. Reusing waste oil is standard in the auto industry. This system uses the heat generated to warm glycol that circulates through a network of tubes buried in concrete floors and sidewalks.
The computer controls lighting, scheduled to go on and off automatically, and building temperature.
"This place, it's like the HAL 9000," Jackson said, referring to the nefarious upstart computer star in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey."
"People come to me ... 'In my office it's cold.' The computer 'thought' they were too warm." Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached at the Daily News Wasilla office at zhollander@adn.com or 352-6711.