Hello Growers Network!
I am the Outreach Coordinator with Resource Innovation Institute and I am delighted to share with you a project we have been working on to help cultivators achieve energy efficiency.
The Cannabis PowerScore was conceived and has been thoroughly vetted by RII’s Technical Advisory Committee, who we are honored to support in facilitating a resource efficient cannabis economy. We’ve facilitated a discussion forum on Reddit and the PowerScore has been tested by nearly 100 users, including indoor, outdoor and greenhouse cultivators from Oregon, California, Washington, Colorado, Illinois, Ohio and the Province of Ontario.
And we would love your feedback! Take a look at CannabisPowerScore.org. If you fully complete a survey with real data, you will be entered to win raffle prizes donated by our members (like expert cultivation consults, rare seeds, and efficient lighting).
Please reach out to me if you have any questions at katie@resourceinnovation.org. Also, be sure to contact our Executive Director Derek Smith at derek@resourceinnovation.org. We are a small but mighty nonprofit committed to collaboratively building a resource efficient cannabis industry, and we are excited to build partnerships with like minded, resource conservation and data-driven leaders.
About the Cannabis PowerScore:
Key audiences, objectives and metrics:
The objectives of the Cannabis PowerScore are to:
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Create industry benchmarks on cultivation facility energy performance based on efficient production (grams per annual kWh consumed) and efficient use of the facility (annual kWh per square foot of flowering canopy)
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Help cultivators confidentially self-assess their energy performance and gain support in moving toward efficiency
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Assist governments, utilities and manufacturers in establishing policies, incentives and R&D approaches to drive conservation
How the PowerScore ranks your performance:
The Cannabis PowerScore calculates your Facility Efficiency (kWh/SF) and Production Efficiency (grams/kWh), as well as separate scores for Lighting and HVAC, if relevant to your grow operation.
You have the ability to choose your own comparison set by:
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Production type (indoor, outdoor, greenhouse, hybrid)
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Region (climate zone, as determined by ASHRAE)
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Both, or
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None (which defaults to a North American average)
Relevant to all forms of cultivation
Our user testing among cultivators growing in multiple environments has enabled the PowerScore to provide relevant rankings for all types of cultivation – outdoor, indoor, greenhouse, hybrid. As a result, the tool:
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Asks questions about where artificial light is used, if any
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Looks at HVAC only where it is used, be that in veg, flowering, drying/curing or elsewhere
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Considers how to disentangle unrelated electricity usage reflected on utility bills (e.g., residential, multiple tenants in a shared space)
Laying the groundwork for Cannabis CarbonScore and Cannabis WaterScore
Looking ahead to the near future, the Cannabis PowerScore tool will form the basis of our upcoming Cannabis CarbonScore (which will count renewable sources, impacts of generator and heavy vehicle use, etc.) and Cannabis WaterScore (which will account for sources, usage and release). Keep an eye out for the evolution of our accounting frameworks for resource efficiency!