IKEA: It’s the largest home-furnishing chain in the world, and soon, it could be the first company of its kind to be powered solely on renewables.
It’s IKEA, and it has just bought a Scottish wind farm.
According to Bloomberg, IKEA purchased this 12.3MW wind farm located in Huntly, Scotland, in an effort to cut down on non-renewable energy sources.
The farm itself could supply 30% of the power to IKEA’s U.K. stores, as it plans to do, according to Bloomberg.
Vestas Wind Systems, a prominent Danish turbine maker, will supply the turbines.
This isn’t the first time IKEA has bought a wind farm, either. The company already owns ones in Denmark and France.
And on top of that, the furniture giant has also announced a purchase of 39,000 solar panels to be installed on 10 U.K. stores.
These panels will be supplied by China’s GS Solar Fujian Co, Bloomberg reports.
With a capacity of 2.1MW, the panels will be able to provide approximately 5% of the power for each store.
Chief Sustainability Officer Steve Howard explained IKEA’s motives to Bloomberg.
According to him, IKEA spends between $1.7 billion and $2 billion annually on electricity consumption.
The company has decided to cut down this cost by implementing a goal of receiving 100% of its energy from renewables. It’s already at 50%.
This is in part from renewable energy that is purchased, as well as the 127MW worth of wind turbines IKEA now owns.
In the U.S., the company has a similar plan, installing solar panels on select locations.
And in the beginning of July, reports the Wall Street Journal’s “Market Watch”, IKEA announced a partnership with clean energy company ECOtality Inc to install electric vehicle charging stations at select U.S. stores.
The program is a pilot program, according to the article, that is projected for completion in the fall of 2011.
It will extend until December 2012.
IKEA’s colors may be blue and yellow, but their mindset seems to be green.
