14Jun 2022 by admin
If Clouds Could Rain Dollars on Your Indoor Farm

If Clouds Could Rain Dollars on Your Indoor Farm

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What if a puffy, white cloud could pass over an indoor farm, and sprinkle - or pour - dollars into the farm owner or operator's pocketbook? For many indoor farms with large electric loads, this isn't that far-fetched of a notion. What is Demand Response? The idea is called Demand Response (DR), and it's not a new one. In fact, it's been around for long enough that innovations in DR program design and the advent of third-party program facilitators make it a much more attractive option for businesses hoping to squeeze additional revenue from their facilities. Photo courtesy of Voltus The best way to describe DR is that large businesses - especially indoor cultivation operations - can sell their ability to, say, allow the virtual cumulous cloud to pass overhead for…
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14Apr 2022 by admin
Why Energy Prices Are So Damn High and What Growers Can Do About It

Why Energy Prices Are So Damn High and What Growers Can Do About It

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Many indoor cultivators are getting hammered by sky-high energy prices. But what is behind the recent price spike, and more importantly what can indoor growers do about it? At the inaugural session of the Energy Cost Reduction Webinar Series, we invited Max Stewart and Matthew Stasium from Atlas Retail Energy to share their thoughts about how energy prices have gotten to where they are, and what we can expect in the months ahead. We also discussed key things for growers to bear in mind as they think about how to keep a lid on their energy costs. Is it any surprise that energy is complicated? For better or for worse, there is no single villain to blame energy prices for high energy prices. All over the country, and even worldwide,…
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29Mar 2022 by admin
Enlighten Your Grow Launches Webinar Series on Energy Costs for Indoor Farmers

Enlighten Your Grow Launches Webinar Series on Energy Costs for Indoor Farmers

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PRESS RELEASE: Tuesday, March 29, 2022 Enlighten Your Grow Launches Webinar Series on Energy Costs for Indoor Farmers Sessions Will Feature Top Energy Professionals Covering Timely Energy Cost Topics for the Cannabis Industry Portland, Maine: Climate Resources Group’s energy and sustainability offering Enlighten Your Grow today announced its Energy Cost Reduction Webinar Series, a new series of no-cost lunchtime webinars aimed at providing indoor horticultural and cannabis enterprises with actionable information to reduce their power costs. Over the course of the Energy Cost Reduction Webinar Series this spring and summer, attendees will hear useful educational content that will help them understand billing and operational strategies they can pursue to reduce their energy expenses. The Energy Cost Reduction Webinar Series is part of Enlighten Your Grow’s broader Leafy Seminars Cannabis Education…
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31Jan 2022 by admin
Moment’s Peace Craft Cannabis Nets A Ground-Breaking Efficiency Maine Incentive

Moment’s Peace Craft Cannabis Nets A Ground-Breaking Efficiency Maine Incentive

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Moment's Peace Craft Cannabis is a family-owned cannabis cultivator in Southern Maine that prides itself on producing high-quality, hand-crafted, organic cannabis. Climate Resources Group's Enlighten Your Grow helped Moment's Peace receive an incentive payment from Efficiency Maine for the energy-efficient Bios Icarus LI LED fixtures in their custom-designed energy-efficient Box4Grow containers. CEO Joy Cutrone shares her thoughts with us on the value of the incentive and on working with the Enlighten Your Grow team. Tyler, Joy, and Peter Cutrone of Moment's Peace Craft Cannabis How is your energy-efficient equipment helping you grow your business? In a craft business such as ours, energy efficiency contributes to our branding story. It’s part of who we are, how we operate, and the care we give to our farm, our business, our products, and…
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08Dec 2021 by admin
Climate Change May Complicate Your Cannabis Business Permit Application

Climate Change May Complicate Your Cannabis Business Permit Application

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What is the connection with between climate change and the cannabis industry, you ask?Well, for starters cannabis businesses are like every other business or entity on the planet and will have to start dealing with developing contingency plans for when their supply chain, labor force or physical assets are threatened by extreme weather conditions.Second, it's no secret that indoor cannabis cultivation facilities are extremely energy intensive - up to 10 times more-so than a typical commercial building.ProCanna USA allowed us to share our thoughts, especially regarding how cannabis businesses may receive (or be denied) permits to operate in their local community based on how well they answer the question: Are you ready for a climate future? Read the rest of our blog on the ProCanna USA website. Climate Compliance and…
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28Sep 2021 by admin
How smart Michigan marijuana growers are getting free money

How smart Michigan marijuana growers are getting free money

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Michigan is home to some of the nation's best utility programs for energy efficiency incentives. By making smart choices, new and existing Michigan growers can take advantage of these programs to outfit their facilities with the latest technology at significant discounts. Right now in Michigan, cannabis cultivators are the envy of growers nationwide. All across The Great Lakes State, cultivators are doing swift business, licensing with the state is becoming more streamlined, ancillary service companies are popping up eager to serve, and finally there is fresh hope for Motor City cultivators to get their permits heard. But a lesser-known fact is that Michigan is also home to some of the best utility energy efficiency programs in the country. The power of being power-hungry So what does this have to do…
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12Apr 2021 by admin
6 Tips to Save Energy (and Money) With Cannabis Cultivation Utilities

6 Tips to Save Energy (and Money) With Cannabis Cultivation Utilities

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Enjoy this excerpt of our April 2021 issue of Cannabis Business Times article in which we describe how cannabis businesses can leverage their relationships with local energy utilities to save time and money during the development and operation of their cultivation facility. With the utmost respect to my colleagues in the gas and electric utilities, energy companies and the services they provide are frankly not the sexiest. All too often, we treat them as simply a vehicle to get the power we need to run our businesses. But in the cannabis industry, utilities are more than just companies that sell you electricity or gas. In fact, for cannabis business operators, it is essential to have a proactive and open relationship with your utility providers. Being engaged with them will help…
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16Mar 2021 by admin
Complete the Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice Survey Already!

Complete the Environmental Sustainability and Social Justice Survey Already!

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We are proud to be a research partner with Cannabis Center of Excellence (CCOE), Trella Technologies, and UMass Dartmouth on a study to better understand how legal cannabis cultivators across the USA and Canada are thinking about issues of environmental sustainability and its relationship to building a just and equitable cannabis industry. Thank you to The Hub Craft for their support of the study! Results are still rolling in, and you can share your thoughts and feedback on the survey at least through May 2021. CCOE has already captured some highlights on their excellent blog post: 80% of respondents are concerned about the lack of consumer packaging recycling programs73% have concerns about packaging waste associated with cultivationand over 50% are concerned about cultivation waste in general (chemicals, plant matter, etc.)…
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31Dec 2020 by admin
Seven Energy and Environmental Cannabis Predictions for 2021

Seven Energy and Environmental Cannabis Predictions for 2021

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Here are seven predictions we are making for how energy and environmental issues will play out in the U.S. cannabis industry in 2021, and how businesses and consumers will benefit. 1.    Technological advancements will continue to provide more opportunities for cultivators to adopt energy- and resource-efficient ways to pursue their craft. LED lighting technology will become more accepted industry-wide, and the practice of data collection and aggregation will become more normalized across the industry. Increasingly, growers will adopt automation technology that is increasingly more sophisticated and responsive to conditions in targeted micro-environments. 2.     Cannabis businesses will become more comfortable with making meaningful investments in sustainability. As more cannabis businesses commit themselves to a longer-term business model, they will see making investments in sustainability as a business imperative. This momentum will be…
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04Dec 2020 by admin
Prepare Your Cannabis Company for Energy and Environmental Compliance

Prepare Your Cannabis Company for Energy and Environmental Compliance

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Many states and municipalities have instituted requirements specific to the cannabis industry, and more are likely on the way. Here are 5 tips to make sure you are ready. TheModernCanvas | Adobe Stock In a piece in a recent issue of Cannabis Business Times magazine, we outlined a few tips for how cannabis businesses can prepare themselves for emerging energy regulations in U.S. states. In our experience working on energy compliance in the handful of states - and observing the rapid emergence of newly regulated states - it is clear that there is a lot that operators can do to avoid getting stuck in a compliance conundrum as they proceed along the licensing spectrum. Are you curious about energy compliance in your state? Ask us how we can help. 1:…
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