Research targets energy efficiency in cannabis cultivation

The results were based on data collected from MariMed Inc., a leading multi-state cannabis operator based in Norwood, MA, and Culta, a Maryland-based vertically integrated seed-to-sale cannabis company offering indoor and outdoor-grown cannabis and accessories.

A team of six senior engineering students conducted research through the Cook Engineering Design Center (CEDC) at Dartmouth over a six-month period during the 2021-22 academic year, adopting a whole system approach to meet plant and grower needs by focusing on yield per unit of energy, cost, and carbon emission. The research will ultimately provide regulators and industry operators with key insights into how the cannabis industry can meet climate, grid, and energy goals while improving business operations and cost targets.

"This research provides an independent, fact-based analysis of the enormous potential for the cannabis industry to reduce both capital and operating costs while improving key metrics like grams of product per kilowatt hour of energy and grams of product per grams of CO₂ emission," says Dr. Stephen Doig, Senior Research and Strategy Advisor at the Irving Institute.

Continue reading.

Photo: Sustainable Cannabis Coalition

Source: Greenhouse Grower