TABJ - August 2 - The internationally recognised home furnishings retailer IKEA Group has made plans to source more of its energy from renewable sources.  The furniture giant has also recently purchased a wind farm in Huntley, northeast Scotland from Good Energies Capital Inc., for an undisclosed sum. This buy will allow U.K. based stores to obtain 30 per cent of their electricity from the 12.3 megawatts of energy that the seven turbine wind farm produces.

The group already owns wind farms in Denmark, France and Germany, and plans to utilise solar energy to power its stores appear to be the latest in its ongoing embrace of green/clean energy future-planning. The company will install 39,000 solar panels in 10 of its U.K. stores costing £4 million, and says it is constantly striving to increase its renewable resources business strategy. These panels will provide 2.1 megawatts of electricity, meaning that five per cent of a store’s power will be supplied through these means.

An IKEA store in the U.S., on the Oakland-Emeryville border has become one of the first to trial the new solar system consisting of more than 2,300 solar panels and generating 760,000 kilowatt-hours of annual electricity. Joseph Roth, a public affairs officer for IKEA stated that all the energy would be consumed solely by the store, emphasising the company’s strong commitment to the environment.

The wind farm and solar energy investment splurge is clearly beneficial to the company as well as to charting carbon footprints and environmental impacts. IKEA stated that it suffers losses of £1.2 billion and £1.48 billion per year due to unstable energy prices. Speaking to press, IKEA’s Chief sustainability officer Steve Howard stated that IKEA are aiming for “100 per cent renewable” and are “likely to hit 70 to 80 per cent by 2015.”