Marijuana causes global warming, uses 1% of U.S. electricity

[douglas9]

People growing marijuana indoors use 1 percent of the U.S. electricity supply, and they create 17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year (not counting the smoke exhaled) according to a report by Evan Mills, an energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

After medical pot use was made legal in California in 1996, Mills says, per-person residential electricity use in Humboldt County jumped 50 percent compared to other parts of the state.

In order to produce some 17,000 metric tons of marijuana this year, Mills estimates authorized growers will use $5 billion worth of energy. That works out to the output of seven big electric power plants.

Much of the carbon dioxide produced by the industry comes from transportation, though the need for lights “500-times greater than recommended for reading” also uses a lot of power and generates a lot of pollution. Air conditioning, ventilation and humidity control also contribute.

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/news/2011/04/12/marijuana-causes-global-warming.html

[Taverner]

1. Um yeah. We'd never want to grow this stuff outdoors....

It's not like California is a good place to grow things :eyes:

More "war on drugs" propaganda...

[kenfrequed]

5. Hmm

I wonder what would happen if corn was given the same environmental impact research.

[marmar]

2. ............

:rofl:

[EOTE]

3. What a shame you can't grow it outdoors then, right? NT

[ejpoeta]

4. people grow them inside because of what happens when the government finds your

marijuana plants outside during one of their helicopter rides looking for it. My husband told me his parents had a $2000 electric bill from drying the stuff in the basement one month too. This was when bob was a kid.

[meow mix]

6. fine then let people grow outdoors

problem solved.

[MindPilot]

7. For the righty prohibitionists to use this information

they would have to admit that global warming is real. How much greenhouse gasses are released when a republican head explodes?

Global warming is no longer a hoax now that we know that marijuana causes it.

[JuniperLea]

14. Yet another goalpost was moved...

Now they can't deny global warming, but they will continue to deny the causes... and move the goalpost from one to the next, lather, rinse, repeat.

[nc4bo]

8. I know, let's grow some industrial hemp and it can save/pay for extra electricity.

Argh!

[Arkansas Granny]

18. Industrial hemp could help the environment and the economy

in so many ways. Unfortunately, there are people out there who don't understand that it can't be used as a drug. They are willing to give up all the benefits of the crop because they are afraid someone might derive a little pleasure from it's use.

[Webster Green]

9. Legalize it, and more people will grow their stuff outdoors.

It's a no-brainer. There is no good reason for the laws prohibiting cannabis, either for medicinal or recreational use.

Many will still want to grow indoors even if it is legalized. You can produce more harvests during the course of the year. LED systems (once they are perfected) will drastically reduce the electricity used.

[Uncle Joe]

10. I would think that Mr. Mills would know that carbon dioxide coming from cannabis smoke isn't

the same as digging up fossil fuel carbon buried for millions of years and burning it.

Cannabis as most any other plant absorbs existing carbon dioxide as it grows and the release of such through smoking makes it virtually if not totally a neutral contributor to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is true whether from an individual smoking it or the DEA burning it in a bonfire.

They need to legalize Cannabis, so it can be grown outdoors, and convert our nation's energy sources to renewables.

I believe an excessive police state; itself burns far more fossil fuel carbon, whether from constantly flying or driving to monitor and/or futilely curtail the people's liberty, now in some cases this may be worth it, if the police are tailing murderers, rapists, robbers etc. but the insane Big Brother "War on Drugs" isn't one of those worthy cases.

Thanks for the thread, douglas.

[notesdev]

11. just goes to show

how economically insane prohibition policy is.

If pot cultivation alone represents 1% of energy use, the market (and taxable potential) is truly massive.

Imagine how much better the budget situation would look if we completely cut the war on drugs and all the agencies charged to enforce it, legalized weed, and taxed it similarly to tobacco and alcohol? Rough back of the envelope calculation tells me that we can save something on the order of $200B/year, and I'm probably estimating too conservatively.

[nc4bo]

15. Not like tobacco!! Then no one would buy it.

They'd continue to grow their own despite the risks.

Money can definitely be made but they'll have to make it affordable for everyone.

[notesdev]

16. Sure they would

People can grow their own tobacco... it too is simply a plant. But they don't because it's easier and ultimately cheaper to do it with mass production techniques.

[nc4bo]

17. So you're telling me if someone buys a nickel bag of pot for $20

and the tax is $10, people would buy it? When they could just get some potting soil, seeds, whatever and grow their own stock for the same amount?

It's been aaaaaaages since I've done the deed so just ignore my pitiful examples.

I don't think pot is as addicting as tobacco so a plant or two would go a long way, much longer than trying to grow 1 or 2 tobacco plants.

[notesdev]

20. For the same reason people buy tomatoes at the store

Tomatoes aren't particularly expensive or difficult to grow; most people could save money by growing them (and we may see a trend in that direction, as the economy continues to deteriorate).

So why does anybody buy tomatoes at the store? Convenience, lack of knowledge, lack of time... consistency of quality and supply, and a myriad of other reasons.

Same principle applies to anything that grows.

Also applies to alcohol - you can make it at home, as many did during Prohibition. For the most part, the only people who do that today are hobbyists.

[Iggo]

23. I'm guessing growing pot is waaaaaaay easier than growing tobacco.

[Adsos Letter]

25. Maybe; it does take some proper tending though, to produce the best quality...

or so they tell me... :patriot:

[jmowreader]

29. It's also hard to cure properly

You can't sew tobacco into a pillowcase and throw it in the dryer. Some of my high school classmates dried their pot exactly that way.

[AndyTiedye]

12. A Good Argument for Legalizing It

Nobody would grow it indoors if it were legal.

[JuniperLea]

13. When it's legal it can be grown outside... and use a free energy source!

Thanks for helping the cause!!

[Arkansas Granny]

19. That wouldn't be the case if they could legally grow it outdoors.

[upi402]

21. How do you benchmark and extrapolate an underground production

This activity is well hidden and variations are significant.

How do you substantiate KWh used? How do you estimate ballast factor, KVARhours, cost/KWh in various locations, ventilation efficiency/scavenged heat, candle-watts efficiency relating different light spectra for different purposes, ad infinitum. ???

I agree we should legalize it and grow with free solar energy - and utility companies should get on board with that too. But this is a wild ass guess - qualify when citing.

[Iggo]

22. I doubt it.

[rurallib]

24. next: making your own beer melts the polar ice cap.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[hobbit709]

27. Here we go again!

[ReggieVeggie]

28. love that little caveat "Oh, it's really the transportation causing the footprint"

Allrighty then, time to stop shipping clothes, food items....Do you know how much shit is transported by truck to Bed, Bath & Beyond every day??

So, once again, a marijuana scare story that doesn't quite pass the smell test.