Going Green - white paper

What the results show is that the highly controllable LED technology saves a tremendous amount of energy while also raising the grams produced per watt by a little over 6%. This is a win-win for both the utility that is seeking energy savings and for the marijuana cultivator who is producing a higher yield while simultaneously lowering an operating expense. Additionally, about 18% of the energy saved on this project occurred during the utility’s peak. Demand savings help the utility reduce its system peak and can have other positive impacts, such as smoothing the duck curve.

In 2016, the Guardian newspaper interviewed Ron Flax, who is the sustainability examiner for Boulder County, CO. Ron speaks to how electric consumption can represent about 20% of the total cost of operating a cannabis grow house. While one would assume that operators would be flocking to LED technology to lower such a large operating expense, Ron articulates: “They approach these things with a great deal of caution, especially when you talk about things that have a crop-wide effect. Each crop cycle has a lot of dollars associated with it, so they’re really hesitant to 5 try something new and hope it works.” The authors believe this hesitation can be reduced through utility lighting programs that articulate the advantages that energy efficient lighting technologies provide in a manner that grow house owners and operators can understand – which is the increased gram/watt yield associated with LED. Economic forces and deregulation initiatives are creating new demand for electricity. The same study by the Northwest Council found that marijuana cultivation in the Pacific Northwest represents about 80-163 megawatts of new demand for the regions power systems. A larger study by the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory found that growing legalized marijuana consumption accounts for about 1% of total electrical use from Colorado’s legalized marijuana cultivation in 2012. By 2014, the 362 grow houses in Denver represented about 2% of the city’s electric use and statewide. 6 Utility Dive reported in late 2015 that 45% of Denver’s load growth was coming from marijuana cultivation. According to Alice Jackson, VP of Regulatory Affairs for Xcel Energy, who provides power to Denver: “We now have on an annual basis, over 300 GWh consumed from our 7 customers that are doing growth of marijuana or cannabis in their areas.” These trends are part of a larger move toward electrification; if you are curious about the future of energy and are looking for an in-depth analysis of global or regional trends, please download the DNV GL Energy Transition Outlook.

As utilities forecast future demand and calculate capacity needs, accounting for marijuana production is a new contributing factor that will increase in importance. Utilities can then develop schemes for indoor agriculture that help encourage energy efficiency in grow houses. Because lighting makes up the substantial bulk of a grow house load profile, LED fixtures are a simple solution that can make a tremendous impact to load. As new LED lighting products come to market