The lights used to grow weed indoors use a lot of electricity, but facilities require a lot of energy to maintain a comfortable environment for the plants
Depending on where it s grown, growing an ounce of marijuana indoors has the same carbon footprint as burning 7-16 gallons of gasoline and in Colorado it produces 30% more emissions than mining.
Insatiable Demand for Cannabis Has Created a Giant Carbon Footprint Details
It’s no secret that the United States’ $13 billion cannabis industry is big business.
It’s no secret that the United States’ $13 billion cannabis industry is big business. Less obvious to many is the environmental toll this booming business is taking, in the form of greenhouse gas emissions from commercial, mostly indoor production.
A new study by Colorado State University researchers provides the most detailed accounting to date of the industry’s carbon footprint, a sum around which there is only limited understanding. What is clear, though, is that consumer demand for cannabis is insatiable and shows no signs of stopping as more states sign on to legalization.
According to a new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, indoor growing operations are responsible for the commercial marijuana industry s swelling carbon footprint.