Illegal grow-ops use 1 per cent of total power
- Grow ops are contributing to global warming and taking a bite out of the nationÂ’s power grid.
"People growing marijuana indoors use 1 per cent of the U.S. electricity supply," the San Francisco Business Times reports, "and they create 17 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year not counting the smoke exhaled" according to a report by Evan Mills, an energy analyst at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
In order to produce some 17,000 metric tons of marijuana this year, Mills estimates authorized growers will use $5-billion US worth of energy. That works out to the output of seven big electric power plants.
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As peak wildfire season nears, SDG&E completes work on microgrid in Ramona
SAN DIEGO - It figures to be another dry year — with the potential to spark wildfires in the region. But San Diego Gas & Electric just completed a renewable energy upgrade to a microgrid in Ramona that will help firefighters and reduce the effects of power shutoffs to backcountry residents.
The microgrid will provide backup power to the Ramona Air Attack Base, home to Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service's fleet of aircrafts that can quickly douse fires before they get out of hand.
"It gives us peace of mind to have backup power for a critical facility like the Ramona Air Attack Base, especially given the fact…
