Cannabis Cultivation Energy Bills Skyrocket Due to Outdated Equipment

In Colorado, one of the states where consumption is now legal, the more than 1,200 facilities licensed to grow cannabis are responsible for almost half of the new demand for energy. And this is just one of the figures to be taken into account, recorded in a study by scientist Evan Mills at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Indoor crops and outmoded equipment are the main causes behind this situation, and factors cannabis entrepreneurs will have to deal with in the coming months in order to remain competitive.

When dealing with crops of these characteristics, the greenhouse's atmosphere must be controlled to replicate as precisely as possible the ideal conditions in an outdoor setting. In this way growers are able to harvest several crops per year. 

Managing to do this involves using hundreds of lights that generate a lot of heat and that, in turn, call for very powerful fans. When the additional equipment involved is added to the equation, this type of facility's energy consumption can come to $5,000 per month.

And the problems that could arise as a result go beyond the money. Without an efficiency policy and the appropriate devices, the facilities in the 23 states where marijuana is legal (without counting those where it will soon be) could be responsible for a volume of greenhouse gas emissions similar to that produced by all the homes, businesses and automobiles in New Hampshire.