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From Home Furnishing Business
Texas Ikea Store Receives LEED Gold Certification
July 29,
2020 by Jane Chero in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
As a company that is committed to a more sustainable life at home that is better for the planet, IKEA U.S. has announced its Live Oak, Texas store was awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification Gold level from the US Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is the most widely used sustainable buildings rating system in the world and provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving sustainable buildings.
“As part of IKEA's global sustainability and renewable energy initiative, all new IKEA stores must achieve a minimum of LEED Silver Certification," said Fabien Dagher, Construction Project Manager for IKEA Live Oak. “Achieving Gold Certification was a true collaborative effort between IKEA, our LEED design professionals, and contractors."
The LEED certification program assesses building design and construction in terms of energy efficiency, water usage, air quality, choice of building materials, and environmental factors like access to public transportation and responsible land use. Buildings are awarded points for these categories based on the extent that various sustainable strategies are achieved.
Some of the building and site features incorporated into the Live Oak store that helped it achieve LEED Gold status include:
- Photovoltaic panels to produce clean energy on site
- Charging stations to support customers with electric vehicles
- Carpool-preferred parking to encourage customers to carpool to the store to reduce transportation emissions
- Use of concrete in parking and sidewalks instead of asphalt to reduce global warming effects
- Low-flow bathroom and kitchen fixtures to reduce the water use in the building by half
- Well-insulated exterior walls to reduce heat loss and energy used
- LED lighting to reduce energy consumption
- High-efficiency heating and cooling system to reduce energy consumption
- Recycling stations to encourage customers and co-workers to recycle
- Building materials that are made from recycled ingredients to reduce the impact on the environment
- Sourcing 75% of the building materials from regional vendors to reduce transportation emissions
- Paint, finishes, floors, and interior walls are constructed from low-VOC (volatile organic compound) materials to improve the indoor air quality
- Isolation of chemicals used in the building in separate air-tight rooms to reduce human exposure to cleaning and other chemicals
- Native plant species to eliminate the need for irrigation
Other IKEA LEED-certified buildings in the U.S. include: IKEA Brooklyn, IKEA West Chester, IKEA Portland, IKEA Orlando, IKEA Stoughton, IKEA Oak Creek, the Joliet distribution center, and the US Service Office.