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Grand Junction Subaru goes solar

Jeff Evans

Solar power is gaining ground in the automotive marketplace. While solar-powered cars may be a few years out, one local dealer has made the leap to a solar-powered company.

Ron Bubar, owner of Grand Junction Subaru, has recently led the charge by installing a 20KW solar power array at his business at 2496 US Hwy 6 and 50 in Grand Junction.

As the first system installed in western Colorado at an auto dealership, this system is one of only a handful of auto dealership systems around the country. Simplicity Solar, a local commercial and residential installation and design company built the system. Comprised of American-made Solar World solar panels, the solar array sits on a roof section housing the dealerships' service and repair shop.

The 240-watt, Solar World polycrystalline panels are manufactured at plants in Camarillo, Calif., and Hillsboro, Ore. They offer the opportunity for businesses like Grand Junction Subaru to purchase a product that complies with the Buy American Act. Together, these two West Coast plants have the capacity to produce 500MW of solar panels annually.

The Grand Junction Subaru system, consisting of 84 panels linked to two Fronius Grid-tie inverters will produce some 30,000KW of power each year. The array will lower the dealerships' monthly utility bills and dramatically cut its carbon footprint. Carbon emissions from utility generated electricity are reduced in the amount of 40,000 pounds per year.

As Ron suggests, for a Subaru dealer the idea of going solar is a perfect fit with the culture of an environmentally friendly company. And being first in helping the environment seems to be a company tradition. Subaru's manufacturing plant in Lafayette, Ind., was the first auto manufacturing facility in the nation to achieve a zero landfill status, recycling 99.3% of its steel, glass, plastics and paper. Not only is the factory green, but so are the cars made in it. The Legacy, Outback and Forrester are all Partial Zero Emissions autos. In recognition of this achievement, the Grand Junction Subaru system will be featured in an upcoming edition of the company publication Drive Magazine.

Not satisfied with just the solar component, the company is looking at ways to expand its environmental presence, looking at possible recycling programs within the dealership and new lighting and heat-saving strategies to expand its environmental record.



Museum of Western Colorado

Grand Junction Subaru is a proud supporter of the Museum of Western Colorado. The Museum of Western Colorado is the largest multi-disciplinary museum between Salt Lake City and Denver. Over the past forty years they have grown to include three major museum facilities, three active outdoor paleontology sites, an educational center and a respected research library. The Museum of Western Colorado offers a multitude of programs featuring dinosaur expeditions, extensive educational programming and historic and cultural trips and tours, ranging from local to international. Annually over 117,000 visitors participate in their programs and enjoy the facilities. This number includes approximately 17,000 western slope K-12 students who experience high-quality site tours, programs and outreach activities.

To learn more about these wonderful educational institutions, please click any of the links below.

Museum of the West                    Dinosaur Journey Museum                    Cross Orchards Historic Site

Interested in supporting their educational efforts?
Just click here: Support the Museum



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Dedicated senior drives away in new Subaru

By Richie Ann Ashcraft, The Daily Sentinel

Thursday, May 13, 2010

  Usually having perfect or near-perfect high school attendance is only worth personal pride in
  the achievement.

  But, to Dusty Copeland, it was worth about $19,000 Thursday.

  Copeland won the grand prize, a 2010 Subaru Impreza, from Grand Junction Subaru's
  program "Be Cool. Stay in School."

The dealership put the names of 27 seniors from School District 51 into a drawing Thursday afternoon. Five names were picked from that pool, and each received a key.

Only one key started the car, and it belonged to an overjoyed Copeland, the lone senior at Gateway High School this year.

This is the third year that Ron Bubar, owner of the dealership, has offered a new car, which he purchases himself, in an effort to keep seniors focused and in class.

The mission of "Be Cool. Stay in School" is to promote excellence in higher education and give a large incentive for kids to attend high school through to the end.

To qualify, students had to have 98 percent attendance for their entire senior year.

Shawn Harrison, general sales manager at the dealership, commends all of the students in District 51 who had the willpower to attend through the end.

"As far as we're concerned, every kid here today has already won," he said.

Alyssa Workman-Keenan, a senior at Central High School, said she thinks the program is just cool, and she was excited to see someone win, even though it wasn't her.

"There's not many kids who are eligible to get it. They all worked really hard," Workman-Keenan said.


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Subaru Gives away Car for Perfect Attendance
05/13/10 - 02:19 PM
KREX News Department
click for larger image   Grand Junction, Colo.

  For one high school senior, having perfect attendance not only helped his GPA, it won
  him a brand new car. Gateway High School's only senior, Dusty Coleman, drove away in
  a brand-new Subaru Impreza this evening.

  Thirty-two students with near-perfect attendance qualified for the "Be Cool and Stay in
  School" Car Giveaway presented by Grand Junction Subaru. Five of those students
  ended up getting keys, but only Dusty's wound up starting the car.

Dusty says he doesn't have any big road trips planned yet for his new ride. "I actually don't know," he said. "Probably back and forth to work in it. I'll definitely be just chilling, listening to music in it."

This is the third year Grand Junction Subaru presented the giveaway. To qualify, students needed at least a 98% attendance record.

To view video, click here


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Community Sporting

To support your local sports teams, just click any of the logos below.


                                                                          
Grand Junction                        Orchard Mesa                           Monument
    Gladiators                             Little League                         Little League


                                     
                       Western Colorado                     Fruita Monument
                          Volleyball Club                    High School Athletics








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