In partnership with
To drive a resource efficient agricultural future, we establish industry standards, facilitate best practices, and advocate for effective policies and utility incentives.
Resource Innovation Institute achieves its mission by focusing our work in three areas:
Baselines & Benchmarks, Policies & Programs, Standards & Best Practices.
USDA-sponsored, peer-reviewed CEA Best Practices Guides coming throughout 2023
Peer-reviewed educational reports are invaluable to producers. RII offers Best Practices Guides designed specifically for producers of food, floriculture and medicine, as well as key market actors like governments and utilities. These reports, sponsored by partners like the USDA, are written by RII’s technical team with insights from our subject matter expert Technical Advisory Council faculty members. Topics covered include:
- Water Circularity
- Lighting
- HVAC
- Design & Construction
- Controls & Automation
- Utility Program Design & Market Engagement
- Policies, Codes & Industry Standards
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Latest News
RII Joins with Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) Leaders to Standardize Environmental Understanding of Modern Farming Methods
"CEA Footprint Project" will establish methodologies for measuring agricultural energy use, water use, overall carbon footprint and other environmental factors PORTLAND, Ore. (Sept. 14, 2023) — Resource Innovation Institute (RII), a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing climate resilience, announced today the formation of the “CEA Footprint Project,” which will bring experts together from across the industry…
Read More Airflow Design for Vertical Farms: 5 Tips
The pursuit of optimal crop yields and resource efficiency has led to groundbreaking innovations in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facility design. The popularization of light-emitted diode (LED) fixtures in recent years has preceded a boom in vertical farming in both indoor and greenhouse environments. These tiered systems allow operators to maximize production by multiplying their…
Read More How CEA Can Connect With Utilities to Unlock Rebates & Incentives: 5 Tips
CEA operators (including cannabis growers) may or may not be aware that their facility upgrade projects might be eligible for various incentive and rebate projects that can offset costs for a variety of equipment, or even make those projects economically feasible. To help understand how these programs work and their requirements and opportunities, Cody Allen,…
Read More Minimum Liquid Discharge: An Attainable CEA Water Circularity Status
Sustainability is the bedrock upon which the future of food production rests. As the world grapples with the challenges of climate change, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation, the need for innovative solutions in agriculture has never been more pressing. To address these issues, CEA facilities are increasingly pursuing Minimum Liquid Discharge (MLD) or even Zero…
Read More 
EDUCATION
Improve Your Efficiency With RII’s Best Practices Guides
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
INTELLIGENCE
Resource Benchmarking, Baselines & Standards
PowerScore, our resource benchmarking platform analyzes facility-level performance on energy, emissions, water and waste. We help compare farm performance against similar peers. Cultivators and their supply chain partners can assess differences between HVAC and lighting technologies designed for cannabis cultivation.
POLICY & UTILITY COORDINATION
Resource Efficient Controlled Environment Agriculture
As an objective, data-driven non-profit organization, RII informs effective policies and incentives that accelerate conservation. RII has provided a trusted, stakeholder-driven voice as leading jurisdictions, including Massachusetts, California, Illinois and Colorado, have established policies and codes addressing the energy and water impacts of cannabis cultivation and controlled environment agriculture. In late 2019, RII formed its Utility Working Group on Controlled Environment Agriculture to enable power suppliers and energy efficiency program administrators to learn from each other and advance best practices on program design, savings methodologies and grower outreach.
