5 Ways To Make The Cannabis Industry More Sustainable

3. Reduce Fossil Fuel Use

Here’s an ugly truth one should consider when they light up their next J. Producing just a couple pounds of weed can have as detrimental of an effect as driving across the US seven times.

Maybe that stat about causing that carbon footprint doesn’t bring about any guilt. But maybe it would be harder to learn that most of the electricity that fuels Denver’s indoor facilities runs on the city’s coal-fired power plants.

Cannabis operations are more energy intensive per-square-foot than other businesses in Denver. So this fact is significant. Finding a way to reduce electricity use and oil is imperative to the ways to make the cannabis industry more sustainable.

Indeed, a recent study showed that one pot plant requires up to 70 gallons of oil to grow. Also, it’s estimated weed production contributes to emissions equal to the level of 3 million typical U.S. cars.

In order to make the industry more sustainable, many in the cannabis industry need to turn to renewable and alternative energy sources to produce their crop. And some have.

Micro-grid company Scale has a system that brings together solar, battery storage and natural gas generators, potentially cutting energy cost by up to 35 percent.