As I sat in a jam-packed conference room at last week’s NESEA BuildingEnergy Boston conference to learn about the energy consumption profile by commercial-scale cannabis production (a.k.a. the “Cannabis Cultivation Conundrum”), I was struck by three major themes.
First, cannabis cultivation can be enormously energy intensive, and legal demand for marijuana in our region will very likely be driving up energy and water use. Every state in New England now permits marijuana consumption for medicinal purposes, and voters in both Massachusetts and Maine recently passed ballot referendums legalizing recreational use as well. Medicinal growers can produce in all states save Connecticut, and large-scale commercial growers are already preparing to set up shop across the region, particularly in Massachusetts where legal recreational use is imminent, pending regulatory fixes by legislators.
At the relatively staid energy efficiency and green building conferences I typically attend, one rarely sees speakers mobbed like rockstars by audience members gobbling up information. By comparison, this panel sparked great enthusiasm, and attendees seemed eager to get any information and insights they could get from the panelists and those experienced in the industry.
Second, there is a lot of work to do on the regulatory front to limit the impact that the burgeoning commercial cannabis industry will likely have on regional energy and water resources. Here in Massachusetts, these potentially significant impacts have been largely ignored as legislators focus on licensing rules. While it is encouraging that the legislature recently established a Joint Committee on Marijuana Policy, it’s not clear that cultivation-related energy consumption is anywhere near the top of their agenda, if on it at all. An important initial step is to work toward getting representation from experts in the growing and energy and environmental communities on the critical yet-to-be-established Cannabis Advisory Board.
Third, the cannabis industry and relevant stakeholders need to begin discussing a unified vision for addressing the energy and environmental impact of large scale cannabis cultivation. If we don’t take steps early to address the environmental impact of cannabis production by establishing efficiency targets and equipment standards early in the process, we will have missed critical opportunities for energy and greenhouse gas savings. In states like Oregon, Washington and Colorado where there is more experience with this issue, organizations such as the Resource Innovation Institute have taken the lead on engaging industry stakeholders around the energy and water impact of cannabis cultivation. Massachusetts and other New England states need to begin having this conversation as well.
With proper foresight, planning, and hard work, New England can seize opportunities to ensure that commercial cannabis cultivation can be leveraged to provide net benefits to society. Let’s work together to make that happen.