Stretching well above neighboring buildings, the wind turbine at Kaady Car Wash on Andresen Road in Vancouver pierces the gray sky, a towering obelisk topped with what looks like a miniature jet engine.
But this is no mere ornament. Rather, it's a state-of-the-art wind-energy generator, the first of its kind used in North America, according to Tim Hilliker, general manager of operations at Kaady Car Washes. "We decided to buy from the Netherlands, because those guys really know wind." he said.
Hilliker, soft-spoken and clean-cut, has been in the business since age 15, helping childhood friend and current owner Chuck Kaady open the car wash chain's first location in 1976 on Portland's Barbur Boulevard.
Today the owner of 16 locations, including three in Vancouver, Chuck Kaady has soap and wax in his blood, with his father, George, running Portland-area car wash establishments since the early 1960s.
And according to Hilliker, the business has always done its part to be green.
The turbine, installed at the Andresen Road location as an experiment, will provide the equivalent of a quarter of the average household annual electricity usage – an amount Hilliker admits will be miniscule compared to the business' average total energy consumption. "But it is a step in the right direction," he said.
Kaady's new initiative is part of a wind-generating trend that seems to be picking up steam, even in the midst of a steep economic downturn.
Wind power capacity grew 39 percent in 2009, from approximately 27,000 to 36,000 megawatts, according to a report released this week by the American Wind Energy Association. Though wind energy makes up 1 percent of energy production across the country, the U.S. Dept. of Energy hopes to get up to 20 percent by 2030.
Kaady's isn't the only area business looking to tap into the wind energy. Vancouver-based food chain Burgerville buys wind energy credits equivalent to the power used at their 39 locations, totaling $185,000 last year, according to a company spokesman.
Columbia Credit Union has adopted a similar model, utilizing wind farms located across the Pacific Northwest.
And some Southwest Washington manufacturers are taking notice, including Vancouver-based Christensen Shipyard which dedicated a portion of their luxury yacht-building operation to the production of wind turbines last year.
The wind turbine installed at Kaady's Andresen Road location isn't the company's only green initiative.
"Washing your car here uses about a third of the water you would use at home," Hilliker said.
Not only does Kaady's conserve water, according to Hilliker, the car wash sends wastewater to sewage treatment facilities to be cleaned instead of directly into storm drains, which could send pollutants into the water supply.
Together with cost-cutting measures such as computerized washers and a $5 price tag that has not changed in a decade, Kaady's has managed to survive even as 2009 revenue dropped 10 percent from the previous year, according to Hilliker.
