Inhabitat has a report on IKEA's solar roofs in California - IKEA Flips the Switch on a 65,000 Square Foot Solar Array in Sacramento.

Furniture giant, IKEA, just switched on a 573-kW solar power system, which covers 65,000 square feet of space at their Sacramento, California store. The array is made up of approximately 2,548 panels and will help to cut 630 tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere. The solar array is the eighth solar power project that IKEA has finished in the US, and they still have plans to build twelve more — four more in California and eight on the East Coast.

“We at IKEA believe in the never-ending job of striving to improve the sustainability of our day-to-day business,” said Heine Roikjer, IKEA West Sacramento store manager. He added, “The IKEA coworkers in West Sacramento are excited to help contribute to this goal with our newly operational solar energy system.” The new solar array will provide 795,500 kWh of clean solar energy annually, and is equivalent to removing 109 cars from the road or powering 69 homes for a year.

IKEA has been hip to the green energy movement, and they were the first US retailer to ban incandescent light bulbs. They also manufacture solar powered lighting — like this lamp — and have built their own wind farm, which currently power 17 Swedish stores.

Cleantech.com has a report on Ikea's move into green buildings - Shopping for cleantech at Ikea. More at GreenTech media.

The furniture giant plans to invest €50 million in cleantech startups, with the goal of eventually selling solar panels, smart meters and other technology in its stores.

Sweden's Ikea may need to super-size its shopping carts. The furniture retailer unveiled an investment group today to put €50 million into cleantech startups over the next five years, with the eventual goal of seeing solar panels and other clean technologies on sale in its stores or used by Ikea suppliers.

Ikea GreenTech plans to focus on five areas — solar panels, alternative light sources, product materials, energy efficiency, and water saving and purification. The group said the investments will be made in companies that offer commercial prospects within a four to five year horizon. ...

Ikea started operating in Sweden in 1943 and has 118,000 employees, but Ikea GreenTech, located in Lund, in southern Sweden, was only formed about eight months ago and currently has four people on staff.

"Within one or two years I think we'll be between eight and 10," said Stenebo.

In addition to selling housewares, Ikea also sells houses, and there could be an opportunity to integrate the clean technologies in houses from the ground up.

Last year, Ikea introduced its pre-fab homes in the U.K. (see Free pencil and tape measure with every house). The homes are aimed at first time, low income buyers, and are sold along with a plot of land.

Ikea's pre-fabs were started in Sweden in the 1990s. The U.K. houses have already been designed to be ecologically friendly, using renewable materials in the construction, and solar and geothermal for power and heat.

But the startups will need to make it to market before they can make it to pre-fab. "Our first focus is what we sell in the stores and what our customers need," said Stenebo.

Different products could show up in different stores, depending on where a store is located. "It's quite natural that, for instance, solar panels are more interesting to Spaniards and Californians and so forth than they would be to Swedes." ...

Start measuring now for your Skär solar panels, Hörup LEDs, and Alsvik water purification system.