Marijuana Business Magazine July 2018

E elctricity consumption is typically the second-biggest cost incurred by indoor cultivation facilities (and often greenhouses), behind labor. According to cultivation company data analyzed by the nonprofit Resource Innovation Institute, grow facilities on average expend about 275,000 kilowatt hours per square foot of canopy. Some grows spend much more, while out- door grows spend little or nothing on ELECTRICTY Power Premium Three ways growers can lower their electricity bills without sacrificing crop yields electricity, according to Derek Smith, executive director of the Portland, Oregon-based research organization. The high cost of electricity for indoor growing shouldn’t come as a shock, so to speak, given a grow facility’s need for lighting, air conditioning, dehumidifying and other demands. “The more competitive the market gets, the more people are going to have to pay attention to resource management,” said Casey Rivero, head grower at Yerba Buena in Hillsboro, Oregon. “Power is one of your biggest costs, and being able to effi- ciently maximize your power is key.” While reducing your cultivation site’s electric bill without making major sacri- fices on yield and quality may sound like a tall order, there are ways to do it. The two biggest consumers of electricity, according to a 2014 study performed by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, are light- ing, which accounts for about 38% of energy consumption, and dehumidifica- tion and ventilation, at 30%. Cooling takes up 21% of power demands, while the remaining 11% of power use can be attributed to heating, water management, CO 2 injection and curing. That said, the easiest place to seek energy savings is through lighting – in addition to heating, ventilation and air conditioning, or HVAC. Here are three ways to cut your electricity bill. 1 Determine HowMuch Juice You’re Consuming To save on power, you first must know how much electricity you’re consuming and what it is being used for, such as lighting and HVAC. The simplest way to measure how much you’re using is to calculate your kil- owatts per day. Next, estimate how many hours per day your lighting and HVAC equipment are running – and at what SUSTAINABLE CULTIVATION July 2018 • Marijuana Business Magazine • 69