Marijuana farms contributing to climate change, research shows

Cannabis not so green due to indoor growing energy demand

File photo of an indoor marijuana grow (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Gerald Herbert, Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Growing cannabis indoors is racking up energy production, resulting in large amounts of damaging gases that warm Earth.

With cannabis farming surging on the back of deregulation efforts, researchers at Colorado State University looked at how much electricity and natural gas it takes to grow marijuana — and its carbon footprint is sky high.

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According to researchers’ calculations, for every one kilogram of dried cannabis, or about 1,000 joints, indoor growing operations produce the equivalent of 2 to 5 tons of carbon dioxide.

To put this figure in perspective, a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, based on 22-mile per gallon fuel economy and a yearly driving range around 11,500 miles.

While farming cannabis indoors burns through electricity, shifting crops outdoors would help shrink the carbon footprint by 96%, researchers found. Using a greenhouse would cut emissions nearly in half.

Local climate around growing warehouses plays the biggest role in energy demands with the highest electricity consumption for growers in the Southeast.

Electric usage is the highest across the southeast leading to increased CO2 emissions from indoor cannabis cultivation.

In Jacksonville, the need for dehumidifiers and air conditioning adds about 1,500 kilograms of emissions to every kilogram of product.

Colder climates have comparable emissions to ours due to heavy indoor lightning requirements, yet Hawaii has some of the worst. The island relies primarily on burning oil for electricity, boosting emissions to over 5,000 kilograms per kilogram of product.

As it turns out, Southern California’s moderate climate and renewable power makes it a prime location for the lowest emissions.


About the Author:

After covering the weather from every corner of Florida and doing marine research in the Gulf, Mark Collins settled in Jacksonville to forecast weather for The First Coast.