On Tuesday, July 14, Cary, N.C. will welcome the first “green” McDonalds in the U.S., featuring electric car recharging, Reuters reported.
McDonald’s, long criticized for its environmental practices including rainforest destruction to make room for cattle ranching, is now working to prove itself as a company that values sustainability. Its new green McDonald’s building uses solar tubes designed to use 97% natural light; LED lighting fixtures; renewable materials including sunflower seed board and bamboo; and drought tolerant landscape plants.
The building is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The green McDonald’s is part of a LEED for Retail pilot program, and details from this McDonald’s will be used to create two new LEED for Retail rating systems.
Most notably, the McDonald’s will use ChargePoint- a private fee-based network of charging stations to provide an electric recharging service for electric cars.
“Our customers will have a dedicated place to park and recharge their vehicles,” said Ric Richards, the independent owner of the McDonald’s.
Also featured at the new McDonald’s is an Energy Efficiency Education Dashboard (EEED) that will display live data about a building’s energy efficiencies and green initiatives streamed from the building’s automation system, in an effort to educate customers about the building.
“QA Graphics is excited to help McDonald’s inform the public on all the green features they have integrated into this new building,” said Dan McCarty, president and founder of Quality Automation Graphics. The system was designed by Quality Automation Graphics.
The EEED will include a 360 degree digital tour of the inside of the building, where users can select different features to learn more about the innovative designs from water efficient equipment to recycling areas. It will also provide users with local transportation information, including pedestrian paths and bicycle paths.
