The Coal Truth about LEGO’s energy use

LEGO, like every company, can only get a small percentage of its electricity from unreliable “renewable” sources like solar and wind–which need 24/7 life support. But since being “100% renewable” is fashionable and LEGO is rich, LEGO pays others to take the blame for its massive use of reliable, “non-renewable” coal, gas, and nuclear power.

The Claim

For more than a decade, companies have looked for opportunities to join the fashionable trend of “going green,” winning themselves praise from celebrities, the media, and political leaders, while drawing in “socially conscious” customers and investors.

An increasingly popular way that companies are establishing their green bona fides is by declaring that they get all of their energy from “renewable” sources like the sun and the wind.

Recently toy producer LEGO joined that trend, claiming it has reached its “100% renewable energy target three years ahead of schedule.” (To celebrate this 100% renewable “milestone” LEGO has built the world’s largest wind turbine from LEGO bricks–bricks that are made of petroleum products.)

LEGO plasters this claim of being “100% renewable” all over its website and praises itself for “investing in renewable energy to help create a better future for the builders of tomorrow.” By portraying itself as a “green” leader, LEGO has been able to gain status as a forward-looking, idealistic company spearheading a politically popular cause–and to position itself as superior to less “green” companies including the energy producers who, as we’ll see, supply most of the energy LEGO actually uses.

The Lie

When companies claim to be “100% renewable” they want us to think they’re getting 100% of their energy from wind and solar, the two most popular forms of “renewable” energy. But the truth is that LEGO is relying on local electricity grids to supply its energy needs and no grid on the planet can work with anything close to 100% solar and wind.

Solar and wind are intermittent sources that can never produce the right amount of energy at the right time. The wind doesn’t always blow and the sun doesn’t always shine, and so these sources require backup from reliable sources of energy like fossil fuels. In LEGO’s case, for example, its “100% renewable” Jiaxing factory in China is plugged into a grid where much of the local power comes from the 5,000 MW coal-fired Jiaxing Power Station.

So how can coal-powered LEGO justify its claim that it is “100% renewable”?

One way is that it adds some unreliable power to its operations. In its China factory, LEGO placed solar panels on its roof, which according to its own information can meet less than 10% of its power needs.

But the main way LEGO justifies its “100% renewable” claim is through carefully crafted language designed to conceal the truth: that it runs mostly on reliable energy from fossil fuels, nuclear, and hydro, and “balances” its use of reliable energy by investing in solar and wind projects that dump unreliable energy on electricity grids around the world to be used by others.

According to LEGO’s website, “We now create as much energy from renewable energy -wind- as we use to build your cool LEGO® bricks.” But that doesn’t make it 100% renewable any more than you can claim to be 100% vegan because, for every hamburger you eat, you make a salad for your neighbor.

Manufacturing 75 billion LEGO pieces requires a large amount of reliable energy and solar and wind are unable to deliver that. What LEGO’s energy use demonstrates is not the viability of solar and wind, but the ability of a big company to raise its own status by imposing unreliable energy on others while quietly using the reliable energy it vilifies for its own operations.

The Damage

LEGO’s track record should make us incredibly skeptical of policies that favor solar and wind and restrict affordable, reliable sources of energy like coal. Instead, LEGO is using the status it gains from being a “green” leader to actively push for anti-fossil fuel policies that will make energy more expensive for millions of Americans and billions around the world.

LEGO’s executives may be able to afford to pay higher energy costs in order to appear “green.” But for poorer Americans, who already spend upwards of 20% of their income on energy, increasing that burden means they have less to spend on everything else–food, clothing, housing, medicine. They have to make painful choices like a warm home or a necessary medication—a running air conditioner or fresh food.

Our Demands

As members of the coal industry, we are proud of our contribution to life-enhancing businesses like LEGO and we deserve credit for it. But LEGO’s lies and the lies of the entire 100% renewable movement not only deprive us of credit for our contribution–they help convince voters to pass anti-fossil fuel policies that are driving us out of business.

That is bad for us–and it’s bad for everyone. When business leaders promote bad energy policies they ultimately restrict access to energy for billions of people–with the poorest people hurting most.

Here’s what LEGO must do to right these wrongs:

  1. Retract: LEGO should remove all mentions of “100% renewable” from its messaging.
  2. Apologize: LEGO should publicly apologize to all Americans including the workers of the coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear industries.
  3. Educate: LEGO should publicly acknowledge the vital role of coal, oil, natural gas, and nuclear for decades to come.

You can help stop this injustice: email Niels Christiansen, CEO of LEGO, asking him to apologize–and share The Coal Truth about LEGO.