New Colorado IKEA Store Could Cause a Jump In Geothermal Heat Pump Installations

The Swedish home furnishing company IKEA is once again bringing innovation and creative thinking to a new level, and they’re doing it in Colorado.  The newest IKEA will be in Centennial, CO, just outside of Denver.  What sets this project apart from the over 300 other locations is the installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system.

The 415,000-square-foot, two-level store will keep shoppers happy and comfortable with an effective and energy efficient geothermal heat pump system.  The company will drill 130 500-foot holes on the premises that will be filled with piping and an anti-freeze type solution that will take advantage of the consistent underground temperature.

While this is one of the larger geothermal heat pump installations in the United States, IKEA is no stranger to these large applications; they have already installed geothermal systems in a number of their Swedish locations.  In an attempt to set a precedent for geothermal heat pump installations IKEA, along with the NREL, has agreed to make the project information available to the public.  Other corporations, companies and even home owners will be able to look at IKEA’s installation to see just what goes into a project like this and what the benefits will be.

IKEA’s installation of a geothermal heating and cooling system will not only benefit the environment and keep customers cool, it will also save IKEA thousands of dollars on their heating and cooling costs.

IKEA’s concern with their global impact extends beyond geothermal heat pumps as the Swedish corporation already uses renewables for much of its electric consumption and has invested $77 million in green technology research.

Comments (1)

 

  1. I read about Ikea’s geothermal system in a single sentence in a New York Times story in September. The Times provided a link to “geothermal”, which is its standard link to a story about the problems with high temperature geothermal having nothing to with Ground Source Geothermal (bergvärme here in Sweden).

    I have been asking the Times to correct this error for at least two years and to have some one write at least one correct story about GSG. The Times editors refuse to do so.

    Perhaps you could try. I googled for info about Ikea’s project and, as usual most of the stories show that the people writing about them know little or nothing about GSG.

    Senator Udall’s little video is a good example of bad communication, nothing there about GSG.

    So maybe you could try writing to the Times or proposing an OpEd article.

    For the New York Times and for the Obama administration renewable energy consists of Solar and Wind. could you add your voice to my efforts to get some serious source in the USA to provide information about what is absolutely routine technology in Sweden.

    Larry Lundgren Professor emeritus earth and Environmental Science University of Rochester Linköping Sweden (see my blog for several examples of GSG in Sweden and Vermont)

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