Marijuana Business Magazine February 2019

Marijuana Business Magazine | February 2019 96 C ultivators hoping to keep pro- duction costs down should con- sider one crucial component shaping their bottom line: energy consumption. When looking to make your grow consume less juice, the three main areas to highlight are: • Lighting • Heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) systems • Type of facility Regardless of whether you’re growing in an indoor warehouse or a greenhouse, your lighting system directly affects how you run your HVAC. So all three of these considera- tions play into your decisionmaking. “We would estimate lights require about 50% of your energy consump- tion and HVAC another 50%,” said Av Singh, a cannabis cultivation adviser based in Nova Scotia, Canada. In fact, Singh noted, the two systems can affect one another, given that some types of lights put off more heat than others. “Lights are triggered by HVAC and back and forth.” Juice Diet Growers can cut their power consumption through LEDs, cannabis-specific HVACs and greenhouses By Bart Schaneman LED lights typically need less wattage and therefore omit less heat. Photo by Black Dog LED Best Practices | Cultivation Cannabis cultivators looking to tighten up their energy usage—one of the largest costs for any grower—should consider the following: • LED lighting systems require less power to achieve results similar to other comparable technology such as high-intensity discharge lights. • Automated lighting setups could add efficiencies and cut down on your overall electricity consumption. • An HVAC system that’s designed specifically for cannabis cultivation rooms is going to require less power than a system built for another purpose, such as a residential facility. • Greenhouse grow rooms rely more on the sun and therefore use less electricity than an indoor operation. • Voltage stabilizers and running lights during off-peak hours could also help with energy costs.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy Nzk0OTI=