John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... 
The IKEA store opening Wednesday in Centennial is full of green features.
You may think that the giant IKEA store that opens its doors in Centennial at 9 a.m. on Wednesday is blue and yellow. But it’s really green.
The 415,000-square-foot store at 9800 E. IKEA Way, visible from Interstate 25 near East County Line Road, will be the first IKEA in the U.S. to receive heating and cooling from a geothermal system and sports the largest single-use commercial rooftop solar project in Colorado.
Being green is in IKEA’s DNA.
“It’s part of our Swedish heritage to be sustainable,” said Joseph Roth, an IKEA spokesman. “Our current global president and our past global president, are committed to sustainability. They both believe that it is not only a good practice, but makes good business sense, too.”
The geothermal system uses heat pumps below the ground to provide even temperature to heat and cool the building’s interior. It’s the states largest commercial building utilizing geothermal technology. IKEA will even use geothermal for melting snow on the north side driveway of the building (although no snow is predicted for tomorrow.)
The system itself is quite the project. It involved drilling 130 holes, each 5.5 inches in diameter, 500 feet deep. Pipes filled with heat-transferring liquid circulate through underground loops and are used to either warm or cool temperatures in the store.
The photovoltaic solar system is no piker, either. The 60,000-square-foot array has 2,212 panels and is a 498-kW system that will produce about 740,000 kilowatts hours of electricity annually. How much is that, you ask? That is the equivalent of reducing at least 564 tons of carbon dioxide, eliminating the emissions of 100 cars, or powering 62 homes yearly.
Other sustainable, energy saving features include:
- LED site lighting and some building signage.
- Building management system to control HVAC and lighting.
- Skylights in warehouse to provide natural light.
- Solar tracking skylights to maximize daylight in selected areas.
- Will sell only energy saving lightbulbs.
- Chargeable forklifts.
Water Conservation and Management:
- Motion sensor toilets and faucets, as well as waterless urinals.
- Sand filter basins to pre-treat stormwater for quality control.
- Detention ponds for managing water flow to public system.
Waste Management:
- Recycling of cardboard, glass, paper, plastic wood and metal.
- Food waste recycling (with a plan to compost).
- No plastic bags as part of the checkout process.
- Products made of innovative waste or recycled materials.
Other:
- Low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint.
- Smart packaging of products and flat-packing of furniture to save truck trips and to minimize resource consumption.
- A small store footprint, thanks to a vertical store on a relatively small parcel of 13.5 acres with no at-grade parking field. The Centennial IKEA is the second largest in square feet, but is on the third-smallest site. Its two most recent stores in Charlotte, N.C. and Tampa, Fla., for example, each have about 350,000 square feet, but are on 25 acres and 29 acres, respectively.
- Hand dryers to replace paper-tower consumption.
Not LEED-certified
It may surprise some people that despite all of its green features, IKEA did not seek LEED-certification for the the building, designed by Atlanta-based GreenbergFarrow. In some cases, companies don’t seek LEED certification to save money, even though they qualify. Spokesman Roth chuckled when I asked him if it was a cost-saving move.
“Each of our buildings, from purchasing the land, doing the planning, constructing the building and stocking the stores, costs many multi-millions of dollars,” Roth said. “So I don’t think that saving some money played any role in that decision.”
Rather, he said, IKEA has made a decision to have one of its store LEED-certified in each of its geographic areas. The IKEA store in Portland represents this area.
“We have a great deal of respect for USGBC (the U.S. Green Building Council, which certifies LEED buildings), which is why we have five LEED-certified stores why our headquarters is LEED-certified,” Roth said. “But we are a global company, so we do not just adhere to U.S. standards. And this building is clearly sustainable. Basically, this store has just about every green features of our LEED-certified stores, plus more, such as the geothermal and the huge solar panel system.”
I also asked Roth how he addresses critics who say that no store that draws such huge crowds of shoppers, some who are sure to arrive in gas-guzzling SUVs, as well as selling products that need to be manufactured and have a finite life, can possibly be green. It was clear that Roth was well aware of those arguments.
“We encourage people to arrive with alternative methods of transportation,” Roth said. “Some cities are more advanced than others in providing other modes of transportation. Tomorrow, we’re going to have a free shuttle from the Dry Creek light rail stop, for example.”
Of course, he realizes that it’s not realistic for someone to return from the store and ride T-Rex with boxes of lumber for a new kitchen. “People who take light rail are eligible for a 50 percent discount on home delivery,” he noted.
Also, as a “vertically integrated” company, IKEA tries to be green at every stage of the business cycle, including buying lumber from forests that have been certified for sustainability.
“Look, no company is perfect,” when it comes to being green, Roth said. “But we set very high goals for ourselves. The only way to achieve great goals is to set the bar very high. And as I said before, we think this is not only the right thing to do, but is the right business decision.”
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com
John,
This is the most stupid question of your journalistic career:
“I also asked Roth how he addresses critics who say that no store that draws such huge crowds of shoppers, some who are sure to arrive in gas-guzzling SUVs, as well as selling products that need to be manufactured and have a finite life, can possibly be green.
Critics of this nature should be ignored and trying to give them some credibility by repeating their assinine concerns is journalistic pandering.
If an individual decides to take an SUV (which I really don’t like) out to the store to pick something up and utilizes it sparingly, this may be the most efficient way to get a product to its final destination. The store cannot control how the American pig utilizes his SUV. It is none of the store’s business and they should not alienate or attempt to “teach” their customers.
What is wrong with drawing “huge crowds of shoppers.” If Ikea has stuff the public desires then huge amounts of people will be satisfied, jobs will be created and the economic multiplier will operate (perhaps partially solving the Obama problem.) (Also this doesn’t take into account the morons who camp out just to be at a “cool” opening of a store like Ikea or Crispie Kreme, or the morons who line up for “our” football team’s tickets or for a rock concert or movie opening.)
As far as selling products with a finite life: Perhaps all the furniture should be made from huge boulders carved out to be ergonomically correct with lifespans of several million years. Perhaps you and your woman (if that is your situation) should sleep on a stone bed or a slab of steel.
Happy bouncing John
Chuck Zeitz