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Farm Resilience

Resource Innovation Institute (RII) is a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing climate resilience. RII provides resource efficiency education, training and verification services, in collaboration with CEA producers, researchers, governments, utilities, and the design & construction sector.

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Our Story

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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RII Curriculum & Events
Our educational courses assemble trusted industry subject matter experts and feature growers of all kinds.

Efficient Yields cultivation workshops for producers. Best practices on energy, water efficiency, and productivity.  ➝

Harvesting Savings workshops for utilities & programs. Best practices on energy efficiency for indoor agriculture.  ➝

Growing Efficiency workshops for design & construction. Best practices on design and construction for horticulture.  ➝

Latest News
March 6, 2024 in Press Release

RII Appoints Global CEA Expert George Carter to Lead Decarbonization Partnerships

PORTLAND, Ore. (March 6, 2024)—Resource Innovation Institute (RII), a not-for-profit, public-private partnership advancing climate resilience, announced today it has appointed global CEA advisor George L. Carter III to the newly created position of Director of Decarbonization Partnerships. In his role, Carter will develop partnerships with industry leaders, utilities and governments as RII continues to expand…
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Press Releases
Blog posts
Published Stories
Events
February 14, 2024 in Blog

Maximizing Yield and Efficiency: The Role of HVAC Commissioning in Controlled Environment Agriculture

Whether it's a mechanically cooled greenhouse, a sealed hybrid facility, or an indoor vertical farm, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) business’s success hinges on finding the right balance between technology, ecology, and the specific needs of cultivated crops. There is arguably no system more important to that balance than the HVAC system. Whether or not…
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February 2, 2024 in Blog

Better HVAC, Better Plants: 4 Takeaways

"Cannabis cultivation facilities are more machine than building, and require an understanding of plant physiology, engineering, and even data science." That’s how Resource Innovation Institute’s Resource Efficiency Horticulturist Rob Eddy kicked off the New York State Efficient Yields webinar on "HVAC with Plant Perspective." The event, held on December 12, 2023, showcased a panel of…
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December 22, 2023 in Blog

Predictive Daily Light Integral: A Novel Approach to CEA Systems Optimization

Optimizing a greenhouse to maximize crop productivity and resource efficiency can be a tricky project to undertake. Dynamic production factors such as sunlight and outdoor climate (i.e. temperature and humidity) make these structures more difficult to control compared to their indoor farm counterparts. For example, greenhouse operators must design their facilities with the worst-case-scenario conditions…
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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

➝ Download Reports

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.

➝ See PowerScore

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.

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Featured Press
Resource Innovation Institute: Advancing Resource Efficiency to Create a Better Agricultural Future