Business & Tech

Ikea Wins Plymouth Township's 'Go Green Award'

The 325,000-square-foot store was lauded for its sustainability efforts.

Ikea yesterday said that its Conshohocken store is the recipient of the 2013 Go Green Award, issued by Plymouth Township Council. The award was presented to Ikea during November’s council meeting and honors the store’s “commitment to protecting the environment.”

In July 2012, as part of an Ikea initiative to roll-out solar panels on almost 90 percent of its U.S. stores, more than 4,700 solar panels were installed on top of the Conshohocken store’s roof, which produces about 1.4 kWh of clean electricity annually — the equivalent of reducing 942 tons of carbon dioxide.

The company’s goal is to be energy independent by 2020; it has installed more than 250,000 solar panels worldwide and owns about 110 wind turbines in Europe.

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More sustainability efforts in U.S. stores include: recycling; incorporating environmental measures into the actual buildings with energy-efficient HVAC and lighting systems, recycled construction materials, skylights in warehouse areas, water-conserving restrooms; and operationally, eliminating plastic bags from the check-out process, phasing-out the sale of incandescent light bulbs, facilitating recycling of customers’ compact fluorescent bulbs, and by 2016 selling only L.E.D. bulbs.

“IKEA Conshohocken is honored to be recognized by the Plymouth Township Council for our sustainability initiatives and are pleased to be viewed as a leader in the community for our positive social and environmental actions,” Camilla Meiby, IKEA Conshohocken’s store manager, said. “We are also proud of our extensive range of products that help our customers live a more sustainable life at home.”

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