MERRIAM, KS—Wind power? Yawn. Solar power? So 2012. The latest sustainable source of heating and cooling large stores and shopping centers is in the ground itself: geothermal energy.
IKEA has just completed the underground geothermal work for a 359,000-square-foot store here which will make it the largest building with geothermal heating and cooling in either Kansas or Missouri. The store, which will open in Fall 2014, " target="_blank">will incorporate other geothermal work in its construction.
The Kansas City-area unit will be IKEA's second in the United States to use this energy source; a store in Centennial, CO, opened with geothermal in 2011. The retailer has some 50 locations with the technology worldwide, part of a corporate effort to become energy independent by 2020. (IKEA also uses solar panels around the globe and wind turbines in Europe, Canada and the United States.)
IKEA isn't the first retailer to use geothermal in the United States. Walgreens opened a store with geothermal heating and cooling in Oak Park, IL, in 2010, the first in its sector to use the technology in a retail store, and also utilizes the technology in its first “net-zero” store in Evanston, IL. Shopping centers in the United Kingdom and Turkey have utilized the technology in malls, as well, including West Quay Shopping Center in Southampton, England, and Meydan Umraniye Shopping Center in Istanbul.
Retrofitting existing centers with this technology doesn't seem all that practical: the IKEA project necessitated drilling 180 holes six inches in diameter and 600 feet deep to house the pipes to circulate the heat-transferring liquid around the store. But it seems like yet another alternative to investigate as store and limited new shopping center development continue.
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