User:Staylor1325/Environmental impact of cannabis cultivation

Image of an indoor cannabis farm in Humboldt County

Energy usage

Indoor cannabis cultivation is highly energy intensive. In legal counties, energy consumption has risen since legalization. Humboldt County has had a significant increase in electricity usage, 50% per-capita, which is higher than other counties in California. This is because of the energy levels required to power these indoor facilities with massive indoor lighting and other factors. However, energy usage may shrink with the efforts to shorten the plants growth cycle, but this raises carbon dioxide by 4 times the natural level. The use of lighting ventilation and dehumidifying was the biggest contributor to this increase with it using 33% of the total carbon emissions. It was also found that California annually uses 50% of the national energy costs. This energy use can be reduced with policies and regulations from the government. However, federal prohibition of cannabis negatively effects state and local regulations, which as a result keeps black market cannabis production at a high price and energy consumption high as well.

Carbon footprint

The total carbon footprint was calculated which found the average United States cannabis cultivation carbon footprint was 4612 kg of carbon dioxide. Machines and methods were analyzed that added to the carbon footprint. These machines and methods used were lighting ventilation and dehumidifying, air conditioning, space heat, CO2 injected into plants to increase foliage, water handling, drying process, and vehicles. With the measurement of the carbon footprint, lighting and ventilation took up the biggest percentage of energy and carbon. It was found that California annually uses only 25% of carbon dioxide emissions from cannabis cultivation specifically. More data like this needs to be conducted to further understand the environmental impacts of this industry. This will, in turn, progress the creation of regulations that need to be made.

Effect on fish and environment

In Humboldt County, high-spatial-resolution satellite imagery was used to detect environmental concerns. Different environmental factors that could be concerns such as grows near developed roads, steep slopes, and fish habitats were found. With the satellite imagery, it was found that 15% of grows were in 100 meters and 68% were in 500 meters of a developed road, and >30% were found on steep slopes. With the threat to fish habitats, 25% were 500 meters and 6% were 100 meters from Chinook salmon habitats. Also, 19% were 500 meter and 4% were 100 meters of steelhead trout habitats. With this data, negative ecological consequences in high risk were found. There is a small environmental footprint with cannabis cultivation in comparison to other agricultural crops, but it is growing with the introduction of more farms and legalized states. There is a need for more data and understanding previous data to further help counteract environmental effects cannabis cultivation could have. Also regulation on this agricultural crop needs to be made to further eliminate its negative effects on the environment and wildlife.

Water usage

Irrigation and storing water has also been an environmental concern researched. Almost all farms used seasonal water patterns with >2% not. It was also reported that outdoor cannabis cultivation uses less water annually than other growing methods, and mixed-light farms, which uses a mixture of natural and artificial light, used the most water per area. Also, many farms do not have sufficient water storage methods, which forces farmers to use surface water extraction methods. An estimated 50% increase in pumping of ground water was recorded because of the limited water sources. This further erodes the ground, so more efficient means must be made to change this environmental impact. A promising solution is the management of water sources through irrigation systems and applying a water treatment to reuse the water.