Humbolt country pot growers spike county energy use

But Humbolt County officials would tell you that their pot isn't all that green. Increasingly, Humbolt's finest is grown indoors. In many cases, growers live in remote areas, powering the lights that feed the plants with diesel-powered generators — hardly a green source of energy. Since 2001, the Humboldt County Division of Environmental Health has responded to at least 50 violations at indoor grow operations, including one 1,000-gallon diesel spill and a number of leaks into the water table.

Add to those operations those that get their power from the grid — which draw enough power to make Humbolt County's per capita energy use 25 percent higher than the state average, a spike that dates to the passage of Prop 215.

If legalization brought pot back out in the open — which handicappers give about a 50/50 chance of happening in November — some of these problems could be ameliorated, but not overnight and not without strong consumer demand for weed that's green in more than just color. And saying you'll vote yes in November doesn't make your habit any more sustainable in the meantime.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=66826&tsp=1#ixzz0sIDvcjxX

to honestly provide the carbon footprint of his product?

....less energy consumption, little to no heat signature. I figured the big growers had already gone to flourescents.

They use a fraction of the power of HPS lights and put out way more lumens than fluorescents. The thing is, your LED grow light has to have at least 3 or 5 watt individual emitters on it to really stimulate the plant's growth. Most LED's on the market have 1 or less, so people buy them and they don't work right and say LED's are worthless. They aren't. They work great if you get the right kind.

Flourescents by themselves don't work very well. They work fine for the grow phase but once you start to bud your plants, they aren't so good. That's why growers use High Pressure Sodium lights. They're great but very energy intensive. More of them would go LED but they've been told they don't work or have tried them and had a bad experience with them because they got the wrong kind so they think they don't work.

And yes, I do grow weed. And no, I'm not afraid to say so online because I have a medical card and am well under my legal limit. I bought two LED grow lights, each with 3 watt emitters with them, and my harvests have been nothing short of phenomenal on only 240 total watts of power.