We are passionate about caring for our environment and feel a responsibility to minimize the impact the automotive business can have on the local environment. Because it’s important to us we have included environmental responsibility as part of our mission statement.

To ensure the work we do at Cascadia Motors has a minimal effect on our surrounding air, water, and soil, we take the following steps in the course of our daily work:

Carbon Footprint

Effective June 2019 Cascadia Motors is proud to add itself to the short list of carbon neutral automotive businesses in the Portland Metro area. By commiting to a longer term partnership with Terrapass, we are delivering critical finance to carbon reduction projects throughout the world. Through these projects, we are supporting the transition to renewable energy, improving health and livelihoods for underserved communities, protecting biodiversity, and enabling low carbon solutions to reach scale and deliver impact.

Energy Use Reduction

Green Source Power – In partnership with Portland General Electric we have subscribed to received all of our electricity through their Green Source program. Through this program a portion of our electricity bill is used to buy Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) to equal our monthly electricity use. RECs increase demand and drive development of more renewable resources. All RECs purchased conform to Green e-Energy National Standards and are registered with the Western Renewable Energy Generation System. The product is made up of 69% wind power, 24% solar, 4% biomass, 2% geothermal and 1% hydroelectric.

Retrofitting Lighting Fixtures – We reduced our electricity use by 30% in 2015 by retro fitting all of our lighting fixtures to more energy efficient LED light bulbs and fixtures.

Vehicle Emissions

We make sure every vehicle we sell has all of it’s emissions equipment intact and operating within specifications. Additionally, we buy carbon offsets that account for the environmental impact of our employee’s commutes and our service departments loaner vehicles.

Recycling

Co-mingled Recycling – A local recycling company picks up our paper, paperboard, cardboard, aluminum, steel and glass weekly.

Metal Recycling – Larger steel pieces, aluminum and other metals are collected, and recycled. Heavy metals are also reclaimed out of catalytic converters and radiators.

Waste Oil Disposal and Recycling – Our waste oil is picked up by an approved recycling company that diverts materials from disposal by turning waste products into raw materials.

Tire Recycling – Discarded tires are picked up by a company that shreds them and then uses the product for mulch. Not one used tire from our shop goes into a landfill.

Antifreeze Recycling – Antifreeze is picked up by an outside company that cleans and re-processes it into recycled coolant. Recycling coolant keeps harmful antifreeze components from entering the environment. It also reduces the burden on natural resources, eliminating the need to manufacture glycol from petroleum and natural gas.

Re-use/Reprocess Automotive Parts and Supplies

Air Conditioning Repairs & Maintenance – The refrigerant in automotive air conditioning systems is an extremely potent green house gas. When AC repairs are done, using state of the art equipment, we recover the refrigerant from each vehicle, clean it and then return it to the car after the repair is made.

Auto Parts – Many of our “hard” parts, such as engines, starters, alternators, clutches and transmissions, can be sent back to the manufacturer or to a specialist to be rebuilt or remanufactured. For instance old car batteries are returned to the supplier to be melted down and remanufactured into brand new batteries. Many automotive components are made out of high quality metal alloys that are very energy intensive to extract from the earth. We make sure to always recycle these components.

Cleaning Techniques

When parts need to be cleaned, we use a special parts washer that re-uses it’s water and keeps all oil and contaminants in a closed system to be properly disposed of.

We use low-VOC, non-chlorinated cleaners and solvents in the shop.

Cloth Rags – We use cloth towels and rags instead of paper in the shop. (All rags are sent out for a special cleaning process that disposes of all oil residue properly.)