Greening the Pot Industry

The legal marijuana industry in the US creates significant electricity demand due to high-intensity lighting and climate control, with Colorado's industry consuming 300 GWh in 2015. To mitigate the impact on carbon goals and grid stability, the document recommends that utilities support LED adoption through rebates and on-bill financing to overcome capital limitations. It further suggests using time-varying rates to shift lighting schedules to periods of low net load—such as midday in California for solar or nighttime in Colorado for wind—to avoid peak demand and reduce reliance on fossil fuel generation.

• Legal marijuana cultivation is highly energy-intensive, with over 90 percent grown indoors using high-intensity lighting and climate control, resulting in energy densities comparable to data centers. In 2015, Colorado's industry used 300 GWh of electricity, which accounted for more than 2 percent of Denver's total demand.
• The surge in electricity demand from the marijuana industry could hinder state renewable energy goals for 2030, such as California's 50 percent target, Maine's 40 percent, and Massachusetts and Nevada's 25 percent, by requiring more wind and solar construction or increasing fossil fuel generation if load is not managed.
• Energy costs represent 20–50 percent of operating costs for growers. While LEDs and improved HVAC systems offer significant savings, adoption is slowed by a lack of low-cost capital because traditional banks avoid the industry due to its federal illegal status, as well as early reports of reduced yields.
• Up to half of the energy load in grow operations is driven by lighting schedules, which can be shifted to align with renewable generation. For example, shifting vegetation and flower lighting could reduce afternoon peak demand by up to 72 percent in Colorado.
• To optimize grid efficiency, utilities should implement time-varying rates that encourage consumption during periods of low net load: midday in California to utilize solar power and at night in Colorado to utilize wind power.

APA

RMI (2016). Greening the Pot Industry. https://rmi.org/resources/greening-pot-industry/

Chicago

RMI. Greening the Pot Industry. 2016. https://rmi.org/resources/greening-pot-industry/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Greening the Pot Industry |date=20 December 2016 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/greening-pot-industry/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2016greening, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Greening the Pot Industry}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2016}, month = dec, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/greening-pot-industry/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }