Dec 22 2010
IKEA has declared its plans to power its Stoughton, Massachusetts and Paramus, New Jersey, stores with solar power. The rooftop installations for both the stores is expected to commence in the beginning of the New Year after receiving the required government permissions and is anticipated to get completed by Spring 2011.
The current installations considered to be the largest among its other installations will make the total number of installations for the company in the USA to 13.
The 1,058 kW solar installations proposed for Paramus NJ located over an area of 132,000 square foot will have 4,600 solar panels and will generate around 1,354,000 kWh of energy per year. The energy generated from the facility can be equated to offsetting of around 1,072 tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to removing of 186 cars off the road. The Stoughton MA store will have around 2,800 panels installed over an area of 79,000 square foot and will generate 630 kW. The 725,000 kWh of annual power production from the facility can offset 574 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which can be equated to removing 100 cars from the road every year. The power generated from the both the facilities can meet the power requirement of 118 homes and 63 homes respectively. REC Solar, a well known solar installation company, will perform the installation for both the IKEA projects.
The other environmental impact lessening practices followed by the company include working in collaboration with Global Forest Watch to preserve the forests, introduction of flat packing for easy distribution with least efforts, recycling of around 75% of its waste products such as plastic, wood and paper and introduction of energy efficient methods in the construction of its buildings.
Source: http://www.ikea.com