Can We Master the Pot Industry's Energy Appetite?
On Nov. 8, voters in California, Massachusetts, Nevada and Maine voted to legalize recreational marijuana, joining Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska and the District of Columbia, where it’s already legal.
This means some 67 million Americans will live in places where recreational pot is legal — an almost 300 percent increase. And this means huge new demand for electricity.
Utilities and state regulators can smartly manage this new energy demand by supporting energy efficiency investments, generating power on-site with clean distributed renewables and shifting consumption to times of low net load (the electricity demand minus the generation from solar and wind) to improve system efficiency and help integrate renewables.
Marijuana's high energy demand
Over 90 percent of legal marijuana is grown indoors, where it requires high-intensity lighting and climate control, giving grow facilities energy densities similar to those of data centers.
In 2015, Colorado’s marijuana industry consumed 300 gigawatt hours...
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