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From Home Furnishing Business
IKEA Announces Sustainable Initiatives at Seven Units Across U.S.
September 12,
2023 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Industry 
IKEA U.S. today announced two significant sustainability initiatives – a solar installation project that will add solar car parks, additional rooftop solar panels and battery energy storage systems to seven IKEA units across the country, and a renewable heating and cooling project (RHC) to replace and optimize existing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems starting with five stores in 2023.
“We are taking bold steps to reduce our climate footprint in the United States and become a climate positive business by 2030. The solar project aligns with our goal of being powered by 100% renewable energy, while the renewable heating and cooling project works toward increased energy efficiency and the goal of eliminating fossil fuels from our operations by 80% by 2030,” said Mardi Ditze, country sustainability manager, IKEA U.S.
This is the second phase of the solar installation project, and the seven units include IKEA Brooklyn, Covina, New Haven, Paramus, Stoughton, Tempe, and the IKEA fulfillment facility in Tejon, CA.
IKEA Paramus was the first to have mechanical completion in July 2023 and features the company’s first-ever long-span carpark system that maximizes the number of solar panels and covers the entire parking deck roof.
Two other locations are also on track to be completed in 2023 (IKEA Covina and Tejon fulfillment facility) and the four remaining (IKEA Brooklyn, New Haven, Stoughton, and Tempe) in 2024.
When all seven units are operational, they will collectively provide 13,600 megawatt hours of yearly production, the equivalent of offsetting 5,883 tons of carbon that would have entered the atmosphere.
The RHC project will replace and optimize the existing HVAC equipment with new centralized systems with high energy efficiency and coefficient performance at five locations in 2023 including, IKEA Canton, Draper, Orlando, Round Rock, and Tampa. It’s a four-stage project done while stores remain open and will take roughly a year to complete.
“At IKEA, we are driven by a vision to create a positive impact on the environment while delivering innovative and sustainable solutions to our customers. Our RHC projects are a crucial part of our Real Estate contribution to building decarbonization and increased energy efficiency. This year is only the beginning as we have a roadmap in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% across our operations by 2030,” said Adrian Avino, IKEA U.S. engineer.
IKEA has long been committed to investing in renewable energy to meet its sustainability goal of becoming climate positive by 2030. In the U.S., the company currently owns over 250,000 solar panels across 90% of its locations, two geothermal properties, seven fuel cell arrays and two wind farms which produce more renewable energy than the amount of energy used at its U.S. locations.