LEGO is awesome, right? From the simpler sets of a few decades ago to the infinite possibilities of the design-your-own format, these simple bricks are one of the most popular toys in the world. As it turns out, LEGO is awesome for a few different reasons.
There’s a lot of LEGO out there.
One estimate says there are about 400 billion individual LEGO bricks in the world. Put another way, that’s about 62 separate bricks for every single one of the 7.5 billion people on the planet.
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It uses a lot of plastic.
While plastics are one of the top pollutants in our oceans, LEGO bricks are hardly single-use plastics. They’re designed to be re-used again and again and can hold up for years.
The company’s set some ambitious goals.
One such goal might have sounded like a pipe dream. But the Danish company made a bold statement: they wanted to work towards running the company on 100% renewable energy.
It takes a lot of work.
LEGO invested billions of dollars into wind farms to move towards using renewable energy. One such wind farm, the Burbo Bank Extension off of Liverpool, England, also generates power for over 230,000 homes.
They reached their goal.
Not only did they live up to their goal, LEGO reached the milestone an astonishing three years ahead of schedule. What other multi-year project finishes years ahead of schedule?
It shows a commitment to the future.
“We work to leave a positive impact on the planet …Together with our partners, we intend to continue investing in renewable energy to help create a better future for the builders of tomorrow,” said LEGO CEO Bali Padda.
How does it work?
Considering LEGO’s assets around the world, including factories, stores, and offices, it isn’t realistic for everything to run on renewable energy. But the non-renewable energy is more than offset by LEGO’s investments in renewable energy.
LEGO sets are getting in on it.
Anyone who’s taken even a casual look at a LEGO catalog knows that there’s tons of selection out there. Some sets, like the wind turbine set shown above, help familiarize kids with the tech of tomorrow.
They’re all-in on renewable energy.
The wind farm off Liverpool is a massive development, but LEGO’s also doing other cool renewable stuff. A factory in Jiaxing, China, will see 20,000 solar panels installed on the roof — enough to power 6,000 Chinese households.
It’s great to see this kind of corporate accountability.
No one has forced LEGO to do this — it’s just something they’ve decided to do based on their values. Let us know what you think of this story in the comments section!
