Ikea is investing in first wind farm in U.S.
Swedish home goods giant Ikea Group is investing in its first wind farm in the U.S., joining a parade of other companies that are venturing into the renewable energy sector.
The company purchased Hoopeston Wind, an energy project under construction in Illinois.
The wind farm is expected to be up and running by the first half of 2015. Apex Clean Energy, a green power company in Charlottesville, Va., is building and running the project.
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Steve Howard, chief sustainability offer at Ikea, said the investment will be good for the company’s business and the nation’s energy independence.
“The U.S has amazing wind and sun resources that will never run out,” he said in a statement Thursday.
The wind farm will eventually produce enough energy to power 34,000 average U.S. homes or 18% of all the electricity used by the company around the world, Ikea said.
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The company, best-known for inexpensive home goods and furniture, has invested in a number of green energy projects over the years, including wind farms in Canada and Denmark. It also has installed thousands of solar panels on its buildings in nine nations.
Other big corporations have looked into the green energy sector as well.
Last year, Google Inc. announced plans to invest $80 million in six utility-scale solar facilities in California and Arizona. Facebook Inc. is investing in a wind farm in Wellsburg, Iowa, which is intended to offset the huge energy demands of a new data center in that state.
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