Can you power a business on 100% renewable energy? Ikea wants to try

An increasing number of big businesses including Google and Mars are opting to get their power from renewables - helping the planet and their profit margins

In 2012, Ikea made headlines with its pledge to completely power its stores with renewable energy by 2020. Last week, HP, the US-based multinational IT company, made the same pledge, promising to switch completely to renewables by 2020. The fact that both Ikea and HP set the same deadline for renewables, despite the fact that their pledges were separated by four years, illustrates a stunning change in renewable power generation. When Ikea made its promise, it was in the process of installing its own power generation facilities. Four years later, HP has numerous other options.

It also has a lot of company on the renewables bandwagon. As part of its pledge, HP signed on for the RE100 campaign, joining fellow corporations Google, Starbucks, Novo Nordisk and Goldman Sachs. RE100 was launched less than two years ago by a coalition of businesses and nonprofits, but participating companies have, on average, already transitioned half of their energy use to renewables, according to a report released last month - and several companies have already hit the target.