Oct. 13--MORRISVILLE -- As businesses retool operations for an energy-efficient economy, green jobs are seeping into the area.

One local company making the transition is Buehler Motor, a family-owned global business based in Germany. The company's Triangle operation designs mechanical and electronic parts for energy-intensive industries such as the automotive, airline, agricultural and medical sectors.

Buehler Motor recently moved to a bigger North American headquarters and tech center in Morrisville to accommodate a planned expansion.

The new facility, to be dedicated Wednesday, is a tinkerer's dream of spare-parts bins, tool shop machinery and a prototype assembly lab.

Though virtually unknown locally, Buehler designed coolant pumps for General Motors' Chevy Volt, a plug-in, hybrid-electric car set to debut next year. The company also designed nine of the 10 motors in the new Xerox ColorQube printer, which uses ink pellets instead of throwaway cartridges.

"We're experiencing a boom, and we've sized the building to double the number of employees over the next three years," said Robert Riedford, president and general manager of Buehler Motor. "It's all new business. You didn't have electric cars before. You didn't have automated window shades."

Buehler is one of a handful of local companies hiring to fill green jobs, a category that's expected to grow as the world economy shifts to maximize energy conservation. Last week, Durham-based LED designer Cree announced that it would hire 575 people to fill orders from China to make energy-efficient lights.

Buehler depends on the auto industry for half its business. In February, it laid off two workers when shrinking orders from GM and Chrysler cut automotive-parts sales by 15 percent.

Buehler officials are looking to the electric and hybrid car market to boost sales, with the supply contract for the Chevy Volt considered a coup. Buehler pumps regulate the temperature of the car's lithium ion battery.

"Being a supplier on this car is a big deal," said Lindsay Brooke, senior editor of Automotive Engineering International magazine, published by the Society of Automotive Engineers. "This is really key to the core technology of the Chevy Volt. The program is a moonshot, and being on it is an accolade for any supplier."

Another area of growth for Buehler is office building design that manages energy with automated window shades and other technologies, Riedford said.

Buehler employs 30 people in Morrisville and expects to add 30 to 45 workers in the next three years. The jobs in engineering, sales, research and design will pay $60,000 to $100,000 a year, Riedford said.

The 155-year-old company employs 1,200 people worldwide. It got its start making moving parts for clocks and went through a number of iterations -- wind-up toys, toy motors, vending machine motors -- before adding automotive pumps to its portfolio in the past decade.

Buehler designs and makes pumps, motors and other parts for Xerox, Abbott Labs, Hewlett-Packard, Volvo and other companies. The company has been designing auto parts in North Carolina since 1969, beginning with motors to run eight-track tape machines.

The company's business strategy is based on designing technologies for potential clients and following up with a sales contract. The prototype products are designed and assembled in Morrisville, while the final products are built in Mexico, China and other locations. The local shop has designed more than 100 motors and other projects and is working on 22 projects, Riedford said.

john.murawski@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8932

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