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IKEA Goes Greener by Investing In Huge U.S. Wind Farm

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After Google, Apple and even Facebook went all green, and started powering huge part of their data-centers and headquarters with clean energy, now it is time for the big retailers to get a piece of the action too. IKEA has just announced the acquisition of a huge wind farm in Illinois, which will generate nearly double the energy consumed by all IKEA stores, services, and even their factory in the U.S..

IKEA is really on their quest to boost green energy production. A few months ago they included solar panels for home use in their catalogs and fired up deals to encourage households to switch to renewable energy. But before anyone could question whether this would be the only thing the Swedish giant would do in order to contribute to the global fight against carbon emissions, the guys decided to explore further the power of wind. No, it does not mean they are selling wind turbines, not just yet anyway, but rather they are investing in a huge wind farm, which will have 49 Vestas turbines that generate 380,000 megawatt-hours of energy per year.

The wind farm is still under construction in Hoopestown, Illinois, but it is expected to begin operation early next year. The investment is a major step forward for the furniture makers, whose aim is, by 2020, to produce as much clean energy as they consume. Only by investing in one wind farm, they make sure that as much as 18% of the total electricity consumption by their facilities worldwide is generated through a renewable mean.

Although this is the first initiative of this kind for the company in the U.S., IKEA has already invested in quite a number of wind and solar project around the world, producing nearly 1.5 million megawatt-hours of electricity. If you’re keeping count, this adds another 37% of the total energy used by IKEA Group. The company officials are proud of the achievement and believe that it could only bring benefits to their business, and the environment, of course.

If the company keeps going as strong, their target could well be reached much earlier than they initially planned. This could never be a bad thing, right?

Image (c) IKEA Group

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