Ikea UK has purchased a wind farm in Aberdeenshire as part of new plans to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels.
The Ikea group's global 'Ikea Goes Renewable' project aims to see all its operations using 100% renewable energy in the long term.

Ikea UK has invested in the 12.3 Megawatt (mw) wind farm in Huntly, Aberdeenshire, to secure access to renewable energy production. The farm consists of seven turbines, each generating 1.75mw, producing a combined 24,700,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year, equivalent to the electricity consumption of five Ikea stores.

The company is also investing nearly £4m in fitting more than 39,000 solar panels to the rooftops of 10 Ikea stores, providing 5% of each store's electricity needs, on average.

It is anticipated that the panels will reduce Ikea UK's CO2 consumption by an average of 662 tonnes per year during the first 25 years of the installations' operation.

Solar panels have already been fitted at the Milton Keynes, Edmonton, Southampton and Warrington stores, and Ikea aims for all installation work to be complete by March 2012.

Installing energy-efficient measures at Ikea stores has already helped the company reduce energy consumption by 19%.

Ikea's chief sustainability officer Steve Howard said: "As well as reducing our impact on the environment, these initiatives come with a strong financial incentive as consuming less energy means we spend less money, which helps us lower the prices on our products."

As part of the 'Ikea Goes Renewable' programme, the company's most recently built stores in Coventry, Southampton and Dublin have been designed with geothermal heating and cooling systems, biomass boilers and improved insulation.

Ikea has also undertaken an audit of all its existing buildings in the UK, with plans to retrofit energy-efficient measures in each.