Cannabis with a Conscience: Energy Needs Of Indoor vs. Sungrown Cannabis
It takes a lot of energy to grow good, smokable cannabis. Whether the energy comes from fuel, electricity, human, or otherwise, we all should be more aware of what it takes to grow cannabis the next time we go to the dispensary.
In this post, we’ll cover the differences between the energy consumed to grow indoor vs sungrown cannabis and where we get that energy.
What Is Sungrown Cannabis?
Sungrown (or sun-grown) cannabis is grown and finished outdoors, planted in soil, and subject to the sun. That might sound obvious, but “sungrown” isn’t interchangeable with “outdoor.” According to cannabis industry terminology, sungrown cannabis is a subcategory of outdoor cannabis and can be grown in pots, subject to light deprivation, and more.
Sungrown cannabis reaches maturity in the ground under the full sun. It’s exposed to beneficial bacteria via the soil and is more resilient to molds and mildew. Sungrown cannabis also develops more terpenes as a natural self-defense mechanism against pests.
A single cola of a sungrown Do Si Dos cannabis plant. From Sunset Lake Farms 2022 harvest
The Energy Needs Of Sungrown Cannabis
If done correctly, sungrown cannabis is more cost-effective and less energy-intensive than either greenhouse or indoor cannabis. Because sungrown cannabis utilizes soil, rain, and the sun, the latter two of which are essentially free, the price per gram of sungrown cannabis is usually lower than its alternatives.
That’s not to say that sungrown cannabis doesn’t require power to make the best product possible. The following are the largest energy inputs needed for sungrown cannabis cultivation.
Fuel
Outdoor farming of all kinds requires fuel to power machinery, small engines, and farm vehicles (at least for now.) Sungrown cannabis is no different. Whether you’re using a weedwhacker to keep the rows clean or driving a pickup full of bud back to the drying shed, you’ll likely burn some carbon-intensive fuels.
Irrigation
While rainwater is free and preferred by farmers, especially during cannabis’s vegetative phase, it’s not always the most reliable source of water for your crop. That’s where irrigation comes in.
On Sunset Lake Farms we use a simple network of plastic drip lines to feed water to our cannabis plants when we experience dry summer days. Besides the plastic used to make the drip lines, we do use a small motor to pump water from our source to the plants.
Drying & Curing
One of the most crucial phases of cropping out cannabis is the drying and curing phase. If done incorrectly, mold and mildew can ruin your entire crop. In order to properly dry and cure sungrown cannabis it needs to be stored in a darkened, humidity-controlled environment.
Maintaining the ideal drying environment takes electricity and a closed environment, both of which require energy and space.
The sun is free!
The average American household uses about 30 kWh per day. With the amount of energy needed to grow a pound of cannabis inside, you could power your house for 100 days. Or… you could grow outside.
The Energy Needs of Indoor Cannabis
Indoor cannabis can encapsulate a lot of different growing techniques including hydroponic, container growing, and “sea of green”— all of them have their pros and cons. For the purpose of this piece, we’ll use indoor cultivation as an umbrella term for cannabis grown using artificial light sources.
Power Consumption
When you move plants that have evolved to grow outside to indoors, you need to maintain a favorable growing environment and feed them with lights that mimic the sun. Not just one light though. Commercial grow rooms require rows upon rows of lights per square foot of cannabis— and that takes plenty of power.
According to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) the average indoor cannabis grow room (a commercial cultivation room set up specifically for cannabis) consumes between 2,000 and 3,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) per pound of cannabis produced.
Most of that energy goes towards lighting, temperature, and humidity control. Take that and multiply that by several pounds of cannabis per indoor grow and that power consumption piles up.
For reference, the average American household uses about 30 kWh per day, meaning that you could run your household for 100 days on the same amount of power that it takes a grow room to produce one pound of indoor cannabis.
Water Purification
Indoor cannabis is more susceptible to disease and infection because it isn’t regularly exposed to the elements, the water that indoor cannabis is fed needs to be more tightly controlled. Pumping in clean water and purifying it further with complex systems can be both energy and water intensive.
Drying & Curing
Just like sungrown cannabis, indoor cannabis needs to be properly dried and cured to ensure quality and prevent mold and mildew. Maintaining the ideal drying environment takes electricity and a closed environment, both of which require energy and space.
Indoor vs. Sungrown Cannabis
While indoor cannabis cultivation does have its pros: year-round harvesting and consistency, it also comes with a fair amount of energy baggage.
Is indoor cannabis 18 times better than sungrown cannabis? No? Then it becomes harder to justify the fact that indoor cannabis cultivation consumes 18 times more energy per gram than sungrown cannabis.
If you prefer greener, more environmentally-friendly cannabis, support your local sungrown farmer.
