For a Glimpse of the Future, Peek Inside The ‘Green’ Garage
You can often gauge the quality of a mechanic by taking a close look inside his or her garage. A clean shop is the sign of an organized, patient technician who will treat you fairly and take good care of your investment. A dirty one, well, could promise to take you for a ride. And the old grease monkey’s adage, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later,” is starting to take on a new socially conscious twist with the emergence of a concept called the “green” garage, where the harsh solvents, oil stains, slippery wrenches and dirty rags are going out in favor of spotless floors, sunlit walls, energy efficient ventilation systems, recycled shop materials and laptop computers.
The drive to seek alternative energy and conserve fuel is a driving force behind mainstream and industrial shops alike and provides a unique glimpse into the future. In San Francisco, Carolyn Coquillette, owner and lead technician of the Luscious Garage, designed her spotless shop around servicing microchip-heavy hybrids, and that’s why it looks more like a computer lab than a grease pit. But alternative power is not just for your Toyota Prius: As more construction machines change, so, too, will their maintenance needs.