Forbes; Booming Pot Industry Is Draining the U.S. Energy Supply

Should something be done to encourage the marijuana industry to be more energy efficient?

  • Yes, tax excessive power use

    Votes: 10 17.9%
  • Yes, subsidize the purchase of efficient equipment

    Votes: 18 32.1%
  • No, there's enough industry regulation already!

    Votes: 28 50.0%

  • Total voters
    56

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
With new chips coming out like 300 watt Luna it is only a matter of time before 500-1000 watts chips are out.

I know it would be a 1000 watt light but I'm sure it would save on cooling. Then again maybe not.

We need more commercial green house ops. Deregulate and allow the plant back outside.
 

HiloReign

Well-Known Member
Lol, aren't there more suitable parts of the forum for this? I think we're all well aware that COBs can save energy lmfao...
 

whitey78

Well-Known Member
In the og article is saying there is grow facilities running a $1million a month electricity bill, that 50,000 sq ft colorado op is estimating $15k a month, even if they were off by triple raising it to $45k a month ($15k was the posters estimate however he did say he predicted going over that) that is a gigantic difference than $1millon a month... I am in agreement that the there is a problem in the making however I believe as growers, our biggest waste is the amount of water thats needed but none the less, carbon is causing me to have a 65 degree xmas in the new england region of the country...

We have bigger problems in the pipeline than electricity abuse.... I am all for efficiency and the more rewarding being efficient becomes, the more we'll adjust how we do...what we do... I was planning to use a government handout to put solar panels on my home until I found out that the company installing them would be reaping the benies of the power supplied back into the grid if there were any, so I had to start thinking a little differently because that would put more than 1 company monitoring my power consumption basically putting me in jail as I am not in a grow friendly state...

When I need to bring up my yields temporarily (I say temporarily because higher plant #'s equal more jail time obviously, I normally grow organically in large pots), I use a SOG method using hempy buckets that are a basic passive hydro drain to waste system that under the same lights as I'd normally grow 8 large plants I grow x amount of smaller ones using that passive hydro method I stated.... My water usage goes up 400% filling half a tent under 1 light (400% more water by switching up 20% of my grow space to hydro is a lot) which I feel much worse about than if I had the space to fire up another couple 1000 watters and was able to cut my water usage.... And on top of that waste, I run RO which is even more of a waste.... We can live and grow, granted much more difficult without electricity (I give props to the outdoor growers of the world because indoor is a cake walk compared to the issues of an outdoor op) but we can not do so without water.... Above and beyond the droughts that we're having, most likely also due to the climate issue, companies fracking for that oh so precious and wonderful fuel called natural gas which is anything but natural, is destroying whats left of the underground water table....

The electricity problem can be solved with more efficient equipment for those that want or have to stay indoors and legalization allowing growers to do most of their growing outdoors or in greenhouses as stated by others already... But I am a firm believer that water is going to be our biggest problem... If the government stopped the corporate welfare that is bleeding this nation dry, literally.... our economy and everyday lives would be much different... I remember a time when the man of the house could go out and earn a GOOD living for his family while his wife/significant other stayed at home with the kiddies bringing me to our last but largest problem, population.... I think that one is self explanatory... My parents generation seen a population of 3 billion, in the almost 40 years I've been on this planet; that has doubled + a billion people, of the poorest and least educated type.... The issues are endless and as long as the richest of the rich who are the farthest away from us and the reality of these problems.... are in control and running things, we'll always be at "defcon 27" for lack of a better term, they dont give a fuck about us (the middle poor class) so unless we can get on the same page as people/a nation and get smarter/stop believing the bullshit we're spoon fed by fox news and the like, we're doomed.... so live youre life the best you can and try to think about the next person if at all possible, if everyone took more than themselves into consideration it would be a different place, but we dont, so it will only get worse..... We will adapt as long as we can until the planet falls apart, at which point rich will be flown to their bunkers or luxury floating islands and the rest of us will be out there like the walking dead minus the zombies... Or maybe there will be zombies but the problems we're talking about here will be a much smaller issue if/when our society implodes....

But to the original question, should excessive power use be taxed? I say lets figure it out after they start collecting accurate taxes from the exxon-mobils/BP's and walmarts of the world... then we can have a discussion about power consumption from growing...
 
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ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Lol, aren't there more suitable parts of the forum for this? I think we're all well aware that COBs can save energy lmfao...
I couldn't think of a better place, and plenty of people are still unaware of either the scope of the problem or the potential of COB LED to solve it.
 

whitebb2727

Well-Known Member
And of course you're correct. Still, millions of people think it's a source of objective news and in this case they do have a point.
Broken clock is right twice a day.

I was raised by hard core right wingers. I hold some of their beliefs and some from the left.

I think I would label myself an independent.

I think both sides hold valuable points. I also think both sides are heavily corrupt.
 

see4

Well-Known Member
And of course you're correct. Still, millions of people think it's a source of objective news and in this case they do have a point.
I am stubborn and refuse to read garbage, how ever much of a point they may be trying making in this one particular instance.

Rapists and killers can be nice on occasion, doesn't mean people shouldn't avoid them.
 

Igotthe6

Well-Known Member
steel mills,car production facilities glass production facilities all use as as much power. These fuckwads just want to get more of the cannabis money. One of my BIG points why not to commercialize cannabis.Big corporations trying to swing us by the dick.
 

Igotthe6

Well-Known Member
This is the same shit they played on the family farmer. Subsidies so they can't compete. Bullshit. My family lost everything from this kind of crap.Get the government out stop the big corps from getting hold of another way of life for the little guy.Big biz has been the downfall of our nation. This is the truth of the matter. THEY..the powers that be,want your sweat equity for free. Legalese,no subsidies,let the little man thrive.
 

Carolina Dream'n

Well-Known Member
http://fortune.com/2015/12/21/marijuana-energy-consumption/?xid=ob_rss

ENERGY MARIJUANA
The Booming Pot Industry Is Draining the U.S. Energy Supply

DECEMBER 21, 2015, 2:00 PM EST
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A lighting system in a Denver marijuana growing facility.Photograph by Matthew Staver—The Washington Post/Getty Images

And lawmakers are worried

As the legal marijuana market expands, so grows the energy consumption associated with an industry that depends on growing facilities with high-wattage lights and powerful cooling systems.

In 2012, a study from Evan Mills, Ph.D.—a scientist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory—found that legal indoor marijuana growing facilities accounted for 1% of national electricity use at a cost of roughly $6 billion per year, which compared to just $1 billion in energy costs for the pharmaceutical industry. Mills recently told Bloombergthat some of the bigger growing facilities operating today can use up to $1 million in power every month.

In Colorado, where residents have voted to legalize both medical and recreational marijuana, Bloomberg adds that more than 1,200 licensed growing facilities eat up roughly half of the state’s new power demands and, last year, those facilities combined to use about the same amount of energy as 35,000 households.

As Bloomberg notes, most marijuana growing facilities make use of powerful, environmentally unfriendly lighting systems that allow growers to churn out fresh crops year-round. In fact, the heat from the lights is often so strong that growers also need high-power air conditioning systems to keep facility temperatures at temperate levels. With no industry-wide regulators, growers have no standards for energy efficient design in their facilities, which creates unnecessary energy waste.

And, the marijuana industry’s energy consumption is only going to become a bigger problem in the coming years. Already, 23 states have legalized medical marijuana, while recreational pot is legal in four states and the District of Columbia. Next year, that number could grow even larger as roughly half a dozen more states (and maybe more) are expected to vote on bills to legalize recreational pot.

The increase in power consumption by the growing legal marijuana industry has led some lawmakers to demand that pot growers pay various types of special fees or taxes to balance the strain their high-consuming ways put on the environment. Last year, lawmakers in Colorado’s Boulder County said they would charge marijuana growing facilities a little more than 2 cents per kilowatt hour consumed. A similar tax has been put in place in Arcata, California, where Bloomberg notes “officials are banking $300,000 a year from an ‘excessive energy use tax’ that went into effect in October 2013.”
1 million dollar power bill. Lol. Where do they come up with this shit?
 

HiloReign

Well-Known Member
What part would you suggest? We are in the led section. That is where this discussion is headed. Lol.
Perhaps in the stonable quotables forum? Power consumption concerns are valid, the article is a joke.

I couldn't think of a better place, and plenty of people are still unaware of either the scope of the problem or the potential of COB LED to solve it.
You're preaching to the choir by posting it in this subforum... Sure, it involves LEDs but still has a much broader scope than just LED and other lighting.
 

SPLFreak808

Well-Known Member
12200000 watts x 24/7 / 11.05hr = $970632 a month. Thats a FUCK LOAD of power. Lets give them lights 1/3 of total draw. Approx 4 million watts a month lights alone, what is that like a 4000 count of 1000w lights? 8000-16000 plants!?
 
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