LEDs Light Up Indoor Farming and Marijuana Cultivation
The marijuana grow-light story sits at the intersection of semiconductor cost curves, cutting-edge indoor botany, utility efficiency incentives, outlaw pot growers, and the slow societal acceptance of a newly legal intoxicant.
And it's a very big business.
A 2012 study from Berkeley Lab found that indoor marijuana production could account for as much as 1 percent of U.S. electricity use, about half the amount consumed by data centers. As GTM's Katie Tweed reported, within the city of Denver, marijuana grow operations are using more than 2 percent of electricity. By 2035, the state of Washington expects marijuana-related energy use to exceed the energy draw of electric vehicles.
It's become an enormous load on the grid -- and an enormous cash crop.
A $28 billion business?
The overall LED grow-light module market is expected to grow from $395 million in 2013 to $3.6 billion by 2020, according to WinterGreen Research....
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