[ijim]

Research companies don't just say hay lets do this study. They are contracted to do studies by private and government entities. Rules and parameters are laid out so the money spent reflects the views and ideas of those financing the study. The same with polls. They cost money and are done to sway people not inform.

[compost]

Once again this war makes me be A LOT less earth friendly. I find myself burning trash, wasting run off, throwing out parts of the plant that take to long to compost, and all the juice since I am not allowed to grow outside on MY property when it affects NO ONE.

Its amazing that something that over 20% of the population uses regularly is illegal. That would be like cigs being illegal.

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

I think this calls for government subsidized LED grow lights.

[Mountain High]

I can't wait till the price of LEDs comes down.

[megayields]

an Francisco Business Times - by Steven E.F. Brown

Date: Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 10:38am PDT
Related:

Health Care, Energy

[IMG]https://assets.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/Marijuana%20carousel*280.jpg?v =1[/IMG]



People growing marijuana indoors use 1 percent of the U.S. electricity supply, and they create 17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year (not counting the smoke exhaled) according to a report by Evan Mills, an energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
After medical pot use was made legal in California in 1996, Mills says, per-person residential electricity use in Humboldt County jumped 50 percent compared to other parts of the state.
In order to produce some 17,000 metric tons of marijuana this year, Mills estimates authorized growers will use $5 billion worth of energy. That works out to the output of seven big electric power plants.
Much of the carbon dioxide produced by the industry comes from transportation, though the need for lights “500-times greater than recommended for reading” also uses a lot of power and generates a lot of pollution. Air conditioning, ventilation and humidity control also contribute.
In California, some 400,000 authorized growers use about 3 percent of the state’s electricity for their business.
“This corresponds to the electricity use of 1 million average California homes, greenhouse-gas emissions equal to those from 1 million average cars, and energy expenditures of $3 billion a year,” Mills says. However, since California is such a green state, it only generates 20 percent of national carbon dioxide emissions from pot growing, while using 70 percent of nationwide energy for this industry.
“From the perspective of individual consumers, a single Cannabis cigarette represents 2 pounds of (carbon dioxide) emissions,” Mills says.
For this report, which he published independently, Mills says he didn’t count the energy used in producing fertilizer, water, equipment and building materials also used in indoor pot farms.

[RetroGrow]

I don't think I have ever read a more disingenuous article.
When plants drink, this water is not lost. It is transpired and goes back into the water cycle.
Every drop of water on earth has been here forever, and is never lost.
The biggest users of water in the western U.S. is cattle, by far. Also the biggest waste of resources on our planet is the raising of beef cattle, which is also the greatest polluter, and the greatest source of CO2 emissions.

[LeeROI]

400,000 growers use the energy of a million average homes--sounds reasonable.
"a single Cannabis cigarette represents 2 pounds of (carbon dioxide) emissions" Really? What about the CO2 the plants consume, that's a (probably small) offset.

"However, since California is such a green state, it only generates 20 percent of national carbon dioxide emissions from pot growing, while using 70 percent of nationwide energy for this industry." Did the state legislature repeal some laws of physics? How many nukes, wind mills, and dams do you have on line?

[sunnydog]

Shit like this just makes me wanna PUKE!

[rives]

I think this fellow attended the same math classes where they teach LEO how to calculate the value of plants.

[Sam_Skunkman]

First of all I do not agree with his numbers, they are just wrong.
That said, it is a sad fact that the largest commercial crop grown in the USA is grown under lights, to avoid being discovered or stolen. What other crop is grown mostly under lights?
I never liked using lights when there is a sun outdoors for free, good for greenhouses also.
But until the laws change, people will continue to grow indoors. If fully legal then the prices will drop and few if any, will waste the money to grow indoors under lights, when you can do the same for free under the sun.
How much of any other crop is produced under lights?

The real problem is the laws, they need to be changed to help protect the environment!
Legalize Cannabis, protect the environment!!!!

-SamS