Indoor cannabis farms in US use more energy than all other agriculture

Indoor cannabis cultivation in the US uses more energy than all outdoor agriculture in the country combined. This generates a large and growing emissions footprint that often goes unrecognised.

“Consumers are led to believe that this is ‘nature’s medicine’ and that it’s ‘green’ in every sense of the word,” says Evan Mills at Energy Associates, a consultancy in California. “There’s lots of greenwashing.”

More than 60 per cent of the 24,000 tonnes of cannabis grown…