The horticultural market has changed a lot, technology has advanced, and so have the technical terms used to describe everything. RII’s peer reviewed Best Practices Guides help growers understand the most resource efficient HVAC and lighting technologies for cannabis and controlled environment agriculture. We are here to show growers how to use efficient equipment to boost profitability.

Our membership is comprised of subject matter experts with the knowledge to help you build and operate the most high-performance and cost-effective facility for cultivating plant life. You may be looking for a source of reliable third-party information, motivated to reduce overhead for your business, or have goals for a more energy efficient facility.

Whatever the reason, when you are considering a decision related to the systems used in your facility, we hope you lay the groundwork with the insights offered in our Best Practices Guides.

Published Best Practices Guides include:

• LED Lighting for Cannabis Cultivation
• HVAC and Dehumidification for Cannabis Cultivation
• Energy Efficiency for Massachusetts Marijuana Cultivators

Our Cannabis PowerScore benchmarking platform analyzes facility-level performance on energy, water and waste. We help compare farm performance against similar peers. Using PowerScore, cultivators and their supply chain partners assess differences between HVAC and lighting technologies designed for cannabis cultivation. Data analysis can provide insights into efficiencies of different cultivation methods and climate conditions.

PowerScore benchmark trends are used by governments and utilities to determine baselines. With PowerScore, they can better establish supportive standards and incentive programs to assist cannabis cultivators in making more efficient decisions.

In 2018, we facilitated 25 stakeholders to make recommendations to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on how it could adapt its cannabis energy and climate regulations, the first in the world. In February 2020, at our Indoor Agriculture Energy Solutions conference, we held our first Utility Working Group meeting.

We now advise Illinois and California, on regulatory and incentive-based approaches, rulemaking, code development and stakeholder facilitation. We are expanding to serve other states, provinces and countries.

Through our Utility Working Group on Controlled Environment Agriculture and our partnerships with organizations like DesignLights Consortium, we increase uptake of program design best practices, including the advancement of effective efficiency programs and incentives for emerging technologies such as LED lighting systems and high-performance HVAC and dehumidification equipment.

Our Efficient Yields Cultivation Workshops are grower-led and assemble trusted industry subject matter experts. We offer brand-agnostic recommendations and engage in dialogues with growers to shape the industry standards of the future.

We facilitate utilities and growers to find common ground and mutual benefit. At Efficient Yields workshops, cannabis growers can learn about utility incentive programs supporting efficient HVAC and lighting technology that improve profit.

Cultivators can get help reducing operating costs and increasing yield. Attend an Efficient Yields event to receive educational resources to optimize the design and operation of high performance cultivation facilities.