Lego Group will be building a new factory in the USA, solar-powered and carbon-neutral, in their plan to grow as a company.
The new factory is going to be massive. A 340 acre site in Virginia, it will include a 35-40 MW solar plant and generate enough electricity to power a small town. According to Lego Group, they want the solar plant to meet all the energy needs of the entire site.
“The site will be designed to support the company’s sustainability ambitions, including reducing its absolute global carbon emissions by 37 percent by 2032,” a statement said. “It will use the latest energy-efficient production equipment while buildings and manufacturing processes are designed to minimize energy use.”
The new factory is part of Lego Group’s plans in another way. They want to spread manufacturing of their product out to places of high demand, to reduce the costs and impact of transporting. Over 220 million Lego sets are sold around the world each year, around 7 sets per second. They’re the largest toy company in the world by volume sold. Currently, factories are in the company’s home country of Denmark, as well as Hungary, Mexico, China, and the Czech Republic. Lego Group plans to expand all of those sites, as well as open another new site in Vietnam.
“We are working hard to reduce emissions at the Lego Group and are really excited about our plans to build this solar plant as we push towards a better world for our children to inherit,” said Carsten Rasmussen, CEO of the Lego Group about the Virginia project.
“Our new site will allow us to inspire millions of children across the Americas through play and we can’t wait to get started.”
Virginia gets 57% of its energy from natural gas, 4% from coal, and 39% from nuclear generation and other renewables. While it is on of the greener states, the Lego Group plant will still need to rely on their solar plant, and pour power back into the grid, to reach net-zero.
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