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Indoor Cultivation Makes Pot a Climate-Changing Habit, Study Finds

By Matthew Heller

FairWarning

Wednesday 13 Apr 2011

Marijuana is far from an environmentally green crop, according to a new study that says indoor pot production results in "prodigious" greenhouse gas pollution.

As The New York Times reports, marijuana is considered the largest cash crop in the U.S. with an annual production value estimated at about $40 billion. A significant portion of the crop is grown out-of-sight of law enforcement indoors, where growers use high-intensity lighting that is 500 times more powerful than a standard reading lamp.

In a new research paper, Evan Mills, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, analyzes the carbon footprint of indoor cannabis cultivation. He writes that it consumes $5 billion in electricity, enough to power 2 million average-sized U.S. homes. What's more, he says, a single cannabis cigarette has the same greenhouse gas impact as driving 15 miles in a 44 miles per gallon car or running a 100-watt light bulb for 30 hours on the California electricity grid.

"Current indoor cannabis production and distribution practices result in prodigious energy use, costs, and greenhouse-gas pollution," concluded Mills, who said he conducted the study on his own time, without federal funds.

Marijuana production has raised other environmental concerns. The Bay Citizen, a San Francisco publication, reported last year on the risk of pot being tainted with pesticides used by growers. Even though 17 states allow growing pot for medical purposes, marijuana is a controlled substance under federal law and U.S. regulatory agencies do not supervise how it is grown or monitor the pesticides used in its cultivation.

Mills, a member of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, compiled his data in part from interviews with horticultural equipment retailers. He notes that marijuana growers often raise indoor carbon dioxide levels to four-times natural levels to boost plant growth.

The Greentech website suggests pot cultivation’s carbon footprint could be reduced by replacing metal halide and high-pressure sodium lights with more energy-efficient solid-state LED lighting.

Posted in Air Pollution/Toxic Exposure, News & Notes

http://www.fairwarning.org/2011/04/indoor-cultivation-makes-pot-a-climate-changing-habit-study-finds/

 

 

 

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