Improving the medical marijuana industry’s footprint

Improving the Industry’s Footprint: Part I discussed the need for environmental and economic reform within the cannabis industry. It’s clear that the environmental footprint of the industry can be drastically improved, but what is so interesting about the cannabis industry is that many of the environmental solutions are also sound business decisions that can actually improve the economics of the industry.

As profit margins for indoor grows shrink, the only way to combat this is to alter growing practices. Utilizing a cannabis greenhouse provides instant savings by reducing an operation’s energy consumption. To grow successfully indoors expensive lighting needs to be run at a minimum of 12 hours a day, and depending on the growth stage, will need to be run 18 hours a day. To maintain an indoor operation like this, a company needs a massive amount of energy and, in turn, money.

By implementing a greenhouse, cannabis companies can eliminate the use of the majority of their lighting. Greenhouses allow growers to utilize Mother Nature to their full advantage. Each day greenhouse growers use the sun’s energy instead of lighting. In many cases, operations are able to cut their lighting requirements by up to 90 percent. Just by growing in a greenhouse, the industry’s largest environmental burden can be essentially neutralized.

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