Cultivation Facility Best Practices Forum

[MrSativaJD]

Hello Cannagraphic Community,

My name is Austin, and I'm with the Resource Innovation Institute it Portland, Oregon.

We are convening cannabis cultivators and experts from the energy sector in order to share knowledge and develop best practices. We also seek to foster the creation of a connected set of conservation-minded thought leaders.

Our goal in operating this forum is to provide answers to your questions about cannabis sustainability and create a place where discussions regarding cannabis and resource efficiency may occur.

We would love to hear your thoughts on issues related to cannabis efficient and sustainable cannabis cultivation. Sustainability helps you cut energy costs and helps the environment.

Hope to hear from you!

https://www.reddit.com/r/ResourceInnovation/?

 

[FireIn.TheSky]

If you're growing large scale and putting small growers out of business you should already know all of this stuff or hire someone who does.

 

[MrSativaJD]

If you're growing large scale and putting small growers out of business you should already know all of this stuff or hire someone who does.

We do not grow, ourselves. We are a non-profit organization promoting sustainable cultivation!

 

[coldcanna]

The only way imo to grow sustainably is outdoors / greenhouses. There is simply no way around the fact that growing under 1000 watt lights and massive HVAC systems could never be billed as "green". Some people will come on and talk about fluorescent or LED lights but it is commonly held knowledge those are not practical commercially.

Bottom line is that smoking indoor bud and being an environmentalist completely fly in the face of each other and anyone who claims to be such is a hypocrite. People who ACTUALLY care would grow what they needed in their own garden during the summer.

 

[queequeg152]

The only way imo to grow sustainably is outdoors / greenhouses. There is simply no way around the fact that growing under 1000 watt lights and massive HVAC systems could never be billed as "green". Some people will come on and talk about fluorescent or LED lights but it is commonly held knowledge those are not practical commercially.

Bottom line is that smoking indoor bud and being an environmentalist completely fly in the face of each other and anyone who claims to be such is a hypocrite. People who ACTUALLY care would grow what they needed in their own garden during the summer.

there have been estimates that 1% of californias electricity consumption might have been attributed to indoor growing back in... i think 2007-2009? i think its down alot now though.

just made me laugh when i remembered that.

 

[queequeg152]

oh and i would add that an outdoor grow CAN be quite bad for the environment... mostly to do with runoff and eutrophication etc.

there are a buncha papers that deal with how to saftely handle nutrient rich runoff from these high end hydroponic greenhouses.

the most interesting imho are the bio swales/french drain systems that have random shit planted in them depending on the climate.

if you have an agressive grade, there are these really cool mini dams you can build that slow down the runoff and impound it in high permeability material like sand and gravel etc.

the plants growing up around these mini damns then drain off all the phosphate and nitrate and ammonia( nutrients that leach through soils more easily)

divalent cations like calcium and mg and monovalent cations mostly get adsorbed into soils provided there is some organic material and or clay content, so they tend to not get very far... its just the phosphate and nitrogen that wrecks watersheds.

 

[Stond_Face]

Does anyone know... how many square feet of solar panel is required to power, for example, a 315W CMH lamp? I'm wondering if you can cover a warehouse with solar panels to run an operation.

I just Googled. A 320W solar panel is about 3100 square inches.
IMO... a 315W CMH covers 576 sq. Inches.
So... I'd need about 7 sq. ft. Of solar panel for every 1 sq. ft. Of flower space.

I guess the world needs better solar panels.

 

[corky1968]

Does anyone know... how many square feet of solar panel is required to power, for example, a 315W CMH lamp? I'm wondering if you can cover a warehouse with solar panels to run an operation.

I just Googled. A 320W solar panel is about 3100 square inches.
IMO... a 315W CMH covers 576 sq. Inches.
So... I'd need about 7 sq. ft. Of solar panel for every 1 sq. ft. Of flower space.

I guess the world needs better solar panels.

Maybe if you position a magnifying glass a few inches from your solar panel
you could amplify the suns rays and fire the lasers. Like the death star

 

[coldcanna]

Does anyone know... how many square feet of solar panel is required to power, for example, a 315W CMH lamp? I'm wondering if you can cover a warehouse with solar panels to run an operation.

I just Googled. A 320W solar panel is about 3100 square inches.
IMO... a 315W CMH covers 576 sq. Inches.
So... I'd need about 7 sq. ft. Of solar panel for every 1 sq. ft. Of flower space.

I guess the world needs better solar panels.

At this point in time solar is nowhere near cost effective in regards to powering grow lights, the up front cost even for a small operation are in the tens of thousands and as a business owner competing against guys on the grid you would never survive.

Look, you don't see any food crops grown under artificial light and that's for good reason. The cost of powering grow lamps could never be built into the final price. The price of weed is artificially high right now so people can still make money growing indoors, but like anything this artificial value is created by bogus government regulations. The REAL value of weed without regulations is going to eventually be the same as vegetables, its not hard to grow and it has a pretty large range of climates it can thrive in.

To the OP's point, if you really are interested in sustainability your initiative should be geared towards convincing commercial operations to move into greenhouses instead of warehouses. You'd make a much bigger difference in this endeavor as opposed to trying to save a few gallons of water or a couple thousands watts here and there