Pubdate: Sat, 16 Apr 2011 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/letters.html Website: http://www.calgaryherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Referenced: The Evan Mills study http://mapinc.org/url/ULxFmAvW Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?208 (Environmental Issues) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?420 (Cannabis - Popular) GRASS IS NOT GREEN Put this in your pipe and smoke it - American pot production is producing the carbon equivalent of nearly half of Alberta's oilsands. According to Evan Mills, a PhD researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, indoor marijuana production in the U.S. emits 17 mega tonnes of C02. That is 42.5 per cent of the current CO2 emissions of Alberta's oilsands. "The emergent industry of indoor cannabis production results in prodigious energy use, costs and greenhouse gas pollution," his report states. Mills calculated that a 1.2-square-metre grow op space uses double the electricity of an average home. The lighting is as intense as that found in an operating room (which is 500 times more than needed for reading), six times the air-change rate of a biotech laboratory and about the electric power intensity of a data centre. From the perspective of individual consumers, Mills says a single cannabis cigarette represents one kilogram of CO2 emissions, an amount equal to running a 100-watt light bulb for 17 hours. He estimates that total indoor pot production in the U.S. produces emissions equivalent to three million cars. The oilsands' current CO2 output of 40 mega tonnes is expected to double by 2020, according to the Pembina Institute. Mills make no projections of future pot use, but says more efficient pot production could reduce its carbon footprint by 75 per cent. Don't hold your breath on that account. Greenpeace has no anti-pot campaign - just one opposing the oilsands. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake