Nevada’s green gas station

Add convenience store and biofuel “gas” station to the ever increasing list of LEED-certified buildings underway in Nevada. Bently Biofuels broke ground this past week on the site of what will become its new biofuels station and convenience store in Minden. The station on Buckeye Road will feature three fueling islands: one for commercial diesel fueling and two for consumers to pump biodiesel and ethanol.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a voluntary rating system for buildings certified through the U.S. Green Building Council.

“We are pursuing probably a LEED Silver certification on the building and the project itself,” says Bently Biofuels general manager Carlo Luri. “It will use lots of local materials, recycled materials, energy efficiency, solar power, obviously, so it’s going to be a pretty cool facility.”

As for the 3,500-square-foot convenience store, “I don’t think Minden needs another 7-Eleven or Minimart,” says Luri. While the details of what will be sold are far from being nailed down, he’s talking with sustainable coffee roasters, solar-powered beer brewers, and he hopes to carry food from local farmers, as well. “The whole thing will go together—a green building, and hopefully a green building with not too many Twinkies in it.”

Luri expects the facility will be open for business before the end of 2008, with his sights set on September.