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The Cannabis Industry Energy Challenge

By October 12, 2017No Comments

Executive Director, Derek Smith, will be speaking at The Cannabis Industry Energy Challenge. The paradigm of marijuana legalization across the country is already having profound impacts and consequences on power operations and electricity consumption.

Time & Location

October 12, 2017
Location is TBD

About The Event

Executive Director, Derek Smith, will be speaking at The Cannabis Industry Energy Challenge.
The paradigm of marijuana legalization across the country is already having profound impacts and consequences on power operations and electricity consumption. 60 percent of Americans now live in a state where cannabis is legal or soon to be legal in some form. To date, 29 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana and 8 have legalized it on the recreational level.

Many communities and governments that have legalized marijuana growth and consumption do not realize that the industry is an extremely energy-intensive business. Indoor-growing facilities require massive amounts of energy for lighting, venting, and de-humidification. In 2012, even before the legalization wave started in earnest, one study found that legal indoor marijuana growing facilities accounted for 1% of national electricity use at a cost of roughly $6 billion per year, already rivaling energy consumption of data centers. States where cannabis was first legalized – especially at the recreational level in Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska— have struggled to find effective solutions to manage the industry’s prodigious energy consumption.

This conference will explore the impact and consequences on electricity consumption and power operations of the rapidly growing cannabis industry in the United States. It will focus on evaluating key considerations and planning needs that electric utilities must confront when operating in a market for legal or recreational marijuana grows.