FRANKLIN, Tenn. - Nissan wants to talk about more than a way to drive at its soon-to-be-finished Nissan Americas headquarters.

The Japanese automaker is showing off “green” features of the $100 million project as a kind of image signpost for car and truck buyers increasingly focused on environmental concerns beyond stretching miles per gallon and reducing exhaust emissions.

In July, the 10-story, S-shaped, headquarters opens, eventually for about 1,500 employees who will overlook 50 acres with a restored wetland. Nissan North America, which increased annual sales by 4.5 percent to more than 1 million vehicles and a market share of 6.6 percent in 2007, is moving about 20 miles from a downtown Nashville high-rise temporarily adopted in 2006.

After relocating to the South from Southern California, Nissan’s own facilities engineers developed the Americas headquarters with an emphasis on environmentally creative workplace features.

To reduce electricity consumption, a sci-fi sounding “light harvesting system” automatically dims or turns off interior lights. Sun shades outside — sort of like reflective visors — are designed to seasonally adjust to sunlight, and each level of the building has below-the-floor heating and cooling to increase efficiency.

Rob Traynham, the company’s director of corporate services, said such energy-saving features are typically more costly up front but in the long run “save you money” in energy bills.

The headquarters building is designed to consume “about 35 percent less energy than a baseline code compliant building,” a statement by Nissan engineers said. Nissan officials said they couldn’t provide a a reliable estimate for when the environmental features might pay for themselves because of the fluctuating cost of energy.

Outside the glass-covered building, Nissan is restoring a 2½-acre wetland. And there’s greenery almost everywhere else, thanks largely to a parking deck tucked at one end of the 400-foot-long building.

“If we hadn’t built that (parking deck), every bit of that would be asphalt paving,” Traynham said pointing to an expanse of large hardwood trees and new shrubs during a hardhat tour of the project.

While the garage will hide employee cars, there is premium display for models from the Nissan lineup in the three-story headquarters lobby.

David Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., says automakers share a zeal to be “green” on and off the road.

He said automotive headquarters have more visibility than engineering facilities or a test track, making the building “a good place to show off environmental sensibilities.”

“Particularly in the current environment, where it is much more fashionable to be green in everything you do, that’s a big deal,” Cole said.

Nissan is used to measuring success against its competitors, and the engineers did the same in designing the building, according to project architect Steve Johnson of Gresham, Smith and Partners.

“They have studied the green strategies of other companies,” Johnson said.

Honda and Toyota have built recent additions to their headquarters locations in Los Angeles. Johnson declined to identify any feature that inspired something in the Nissan design.

At Nissan Americas, specially coated exterior glass contains argon gas to help lower the heat flow through the east-facing glass front. The sunshades’ computer-designed blade angles help direct sunlight, reducing glare and brightness in the summer.

Interior light fixtures automatically adjust as the shades let in more or less light.

Air conditioning and heat flowing under the raised flooring on each level are controlled through outlets at each work station in the 460,000 square feet of offices.

“You heat the people and not the space,” Traynham said.

Underfloor cooling also complements the natural tendency of air to rise as it warms, he said.

Nissan continued the green effort in dealing with the waste from construction. Primary contractor Skanska USA recycled 325 tons of concrete, 3.78 tons of steel, 14 tons of wood and 6 tons of cardboard or paper, according to figures from Nissan engineers.

In addition to environmental conservation, the headquarters design is aimed at employee efficiency. Alternating atriums with open stairways on each of the nine main floors and informal meeting areas are intended to encourage on-the-spot employee collaboration.

“It’s really ingenious the way it is designed to flow traffic through the building,” Traynham said. Instead of trading e-mails, “this building is designed to make people flow together.”

Outside, the Japanese automaker chose to restore a wetland fed by underground streams instead of taking an option to create replacement wetland elsewhere. Tens of thousands of native

Tennessee plants, including iris, button bush and rushes, are growing in the freshly manicured wetland.

Traynham said the corner tract is already a safe haven for wildlife. The vegetation also helps absorb traffic noise and emissions from nearby Interstate 65.

Despite the environmental investment, Nissan isn’t seeking a seal of approval from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Traynham said doing so would add to costs and “rather than have a plaque on the wall” Nissan chose to invest in restoring the wetland.

Ashley Katz, a spokeswoman for the green building council, described Nissan’s decision to not seek the green rating as unfortunate. She declined further comment.

The headquarters location at a place called Cool Springs may sound bucolic, but don’t get the idea that Nissan executives are landing in the sticks. The headquarters is situated in a neighborhood of polished office buildings and there’s a Wal-Mart and upscale mall just across the interstate.

Nissan has built in Franklin, a well-to-do town with 50,000 people, antique shops and a Civil War battlefield accentuating more than two centuries of municipal history.

Franklin Mayor John Schroer said the automaker’s headquarters is priceless in economic development circles. He said Franklin contributed $15 million worth of land.

The project is generating new tax dollars but Schrorer sees even bigger benefit in the publicity potential.

He said Franklin now has a powerful recruiting pitch when courting business prospects: “Well you know Nissan picked us.”

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