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Executive Director Derek Smith discussed energy standards and Board Member Jen Amann presented about codes On Thursday, July 23, RII Executive Director Derek Smith hosted Energy Standards: The Missing Piece for Scale and Sustainability, a roundtable held twice during the day-long virtual Indoor AgTech Innovation Summit, a unique platform to develop new business and accelerate…

Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission Addresses Definitions, Eligible Equipment, and Exemptions Horticultural Lighting Power Density Calculations Clarified On July 17, 2020, the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission released a list of frequently asked questions with associated answers to clarify the market's understanding of regulations and the ways cultivators can comply with them. The answers to questions #4…

RII Hosts Sustainability Roundtable at Virtual MJBizConNEXT Dialogue Ranged from Energy to Water to Waste On Wed., July 1, Executive Director Derek Smith joined MJBiz’s John Schroyer in leading an open dialogue on “What sustainability practices are you implementing at your company” as part of MJBiz’s mid-year “NEXT” conference. The conversation began with questions about…

Allocating Cannabis Taxes to Communities Impacted by the War on Drugs As conversations about defunding police departments mount across the country, RII is focusing on our collective opportunity to influence the reallocation of cannabis taxes. In Portland, Oregon, 45% of cannabis taxes go to the police, and while a portion is to be provided to…

DesignLights Consortium Releases Draft Horticultural Lighting Technical Requirements v2.0 RII invites you to provide feedback on the recently released first draft of the DLC Horticultural Lighting Technical Requirements V2.0. V2.0 continues the transition from using traditional lighting metrics to using horticultural-specific metrics that better represent horticultural lighting performance, and should increase the quantity and quality…

New PowerScore Service Launched for Massachusetts Cultivators As of July 1, Massachusetts cannabis cultivators can use a unique portal of RII’s Cannabis PowerScore to easily report, benchmark, and improve performance of their greenhouses and indoor facilities. The upgrades were funded by Massachusetts Dept. of Energy Resources in coordination with the Cannabis Control Commission’s specification of…

Tighten your belt to ensure survival and reduce operating costs today and beyond   The president of an RII member company that manufactures cultivation HVAC equipment recently let us know that during the downtime presented by coronavirus, they have taken the opportunity to upgrade to highly efficient LED solutions for their business’ offices. An especially…

Advice for State and Federal Governments Looking to Incorporate Energy Guidelines in Cultivation Licensing Peer-reviewed Guidance for State and Federal Lawmakers   There are a number of opportunities for state and federal agencies, and, to a certain extent, utilities, to influence the cannabis industry with effective targeted policies. These suggestions are organized by time frame:…

Get Involved and Offer Input for California Title 24 Revisions Last month we wrote about how California’s proposed regulations aimed at saving energy and water while maintaining crop quality and production volume for crops grown in non-stacked and stacked indoor farms could affect essentially all cannabis cultivators. As noted before, the California Statewide Utility Codes…

California Writing Energy Codes that May Affect Cannabis Cultivation and All “Controlled Environment Horticulture” How your business can get involved   As part of its 2022 code cycle, the California Energy Commission is reviewing proposals aimed at saving energy and water while maintaining crop quality and production volume for crops grown in non-stacked and stacked…

RII’s HVAC Best Practices Guide Demystifies Approaches to Efficient HVAC for Cannabis Get Help with Controlled Environment Agriculture Dehumidification System Selection It can be difficult for growers and the design and construction professionals supporting them to navigate how to build and operate efficient and effective heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. You may not…

RII’s LED Lighting Best Practices Guide Illuminates the Way to Lower-Energy Grows   It can be difficult for growers and the design and construction professionals supporting them to navigate how to build and operate efficient and effective lighting systems for cultivation applications. You and your project team may be unsure where to turn for trustworthy…