cannabisnews.com: Pot Growers Taking a Hit from Electricity Shortage Pot Growers Taking a Hit from Electricity Shortage Posted by FoM on February 11, 2001 at 11:08:42 PT By Patrick May, Mercury News Source: San Jose Mercury News The marijuana growers of Humboldt County already have enough to worry about -- cops dropping in by helicopter to trash their plants, stoned-out neighbors ripping them off and nasty rainstorms washing out their roads. Now, just as winter's indoor-growing season demands more electricity than ever, here comes the state's power burnout.Many of the big-time growers have moved indoors and off the PG&E grid, producing their own diesel-generated power to avoid detection. But smaller entrepreneurs -- some of them growing marijuana semi-legally for medicinal use -- remain plugged in. And by using 1,000-watt bulbs to trick plants into flowering, they're getting hit with power bills nearly as high as the folks smoking their product.``We already have issues with law enforcement and issues with patients,'' said Dennis Turner, executive director of an Arcata cannabis club that distributes cut-rate medicinal marijuana to 110 clients. ``The last thing we need now is an energy crisis.''Ever since growers began moving indoors to evade the aerial surveillance of their open-air crops by police, the pot-growing industry has displayed an incredible appetite for kilowatts.``Power is probably the biggest single cost for these guys,'' said sheriff's Deputy Randy Garcia, with the department's four-man anti-drug unit. ``They're burning 1,000-watt high-pressure sodium lights for 12 or 18 hours a day and they're doing it 10 months of the year. That calls for either a lot of electricity or a lot of diesel.''The previous day, Garcia's crew had raided an operation where 88 lights were used to grow 3,500 plants, an amount worth $400,000 cut and dried. One estimate put the cost of running those lights at $4,000 a month.``They need power for lights and ballast, and they need power to run fans that help make the stalks stronger,'' he said. ``The more power they use, the better the quality of the product.''Growers Get Creative:That puts medicinal marijuana growers in a bind. One farmer who supplies the clinic with affordable weed with names like White Rhino and Blue Boy said most patients are indigent and need cheap pot to ease back pain or to stave off alcoholic relapse.``We do our own grow and cut out the middle man to get decent prices for our patients,'' said the grower, who declined to give his name. ``But if electrical costs keep going up, it'll have a tremendous impact.''For growers on the grid, sharp spikes on a residential meter are a red flag to PG&E and an invitation for trouble. So they get creative. Sheriff's Sgt. Wayne Hanson recalled one bust where the grower had installed an electrical bypass device -- the PG&E meter remained stable, even though the grower was burning up a mint's worth of power.``By the time we raided the place,'' he said, ``PG&E figured the grower had stolen $800,000 worth of electricity over several years. It's just like shoplifting, and the costs were being passed on to law-abiding customers.''Gradually, many of the large-scale growers moved inside windowless warehouses in the woods or fake houses, complete with kids' toys out on the lawn. ``The police definitely pushed us indoors,'' said one off-the-grid grower, showing off several hundred lush green pot plants inside his mountain-top home outside Garberville. ``It was great growing it out in the open. But they ruined it for us.''Still, they've apparently adapted to life without PG&E.Eureka police Sgt. Pat Freese recalled one raid that netted a diesel generator big enough to power a small hospital. Hanson and Garcia, whose unit seized 43,000 pot plants last year worth an estimated $14.5 million, showed visitors their storage lot crammed with confiscated electrical equipment: military-styled generators, one of them painted in camouflage; grow lights and hoods, bulbs, ballast, and miles of new electrical wire.Grave Physical Risks:But there is, said Garcia, a very steep downside to making one's own power: electrocution. The police training manual, in fact, shows photos of dead growers, zapped as they tended their plants. ``You'd have to be a PG&E-type electrician to set up some of these systems,'' he said. ``This is not something you'd hand off to a Kmart clerk.''Some growers may have moved off the grid, but their power costs are still off the charts: A 1,000-watt bulb costs $50 a month to run 18 hours a day, said Bryn Coriell of American Hydroponics, an Arcata firm that sells equipment for growing tomatoes and lettuce indoors and without soil. By contrast, a similar bulb hooked up to a generator can cost $60 or $70 a month in diesel.The current energy crisis touches this multi-million-dollar industry in other curious ways. One grower pointed out that as the cost of electricity goes up in California, Canadian power has become relatively cheaper each month. The result, they say, is an unfair marijuana trade imbalance.``The growers up there are on the grid with cheap Canadian hydroelectric power,'' said the grower. ``So we've seen a steady rise in imports from Canada and that's caused the bottom to drop out of the U.S. market.''Some off-grid pot growers also fret that diesel costs could rise, cutting further into their admittedly fat profits. Meanwhile, growers on the grid, just like residential consumers and businesses up and down the Golden State, are turning to conservation to help them weather the storm.``This crisis is an unexpected factor that we need to deal with,'' said Turner at the cannabis club in Arcata. ``Some of our growers have already put a non-peak-hour timer on their grow lights so they're on during the night when electricity is cheaper.''After all, he said, ``as long as those lights are on for 12 hours a day, it doesn't matter to the pot plant which 12 hours they are.''Contact Patrick May at: pmay sjmercury.com Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Author: Patrick MayPublished: February 10, 2001Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Address: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Contact: letters sjmercury.com Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ CannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #8 posted by Gyrfalcon on February 12, 2001 at 16:31:47 PT: Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act Dan B is right about the MAPA. It is also attached to the Bankruptcy Reform Act (HR. 833), which could pass any day now. For more info visit the Blue Ribbon website http://www.eff.org/And about wind generators:I've done the research, and they really DO look like the best off-grid way to go. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by Lehder on February 12, 2001 at 09:11:19 PT Our Sleazy Drug War ...it seems rather suspicious to me that someone would ask where to get a marijuana seed just out of the blue like that. to me too, Dan B. I ignore these imbeciles. The pigs will place more messages like this on the board, and when they get no bites, they'll put another pig on the board who will privide what the first pig wants and then blame it all on the board and close it down as a drug distribution ring, in the business of killing children.We have a right to a democratic discussion on this extremely low-profile site - what, 500,000 site hits in two years. We are searching for the truth. We find it more productive than watching a whimpering child tell us "keep trying, keep trying" on the one-way medium of television that reaches a hundred times that many viewers hundreds of times every week.Keep a copy of this history of the war on drugs somewhere safe, FoM. It will be needed for the war-crimes trials. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by Dan B on February 11, 2001 at 17:44:13 PT: Mike--Here's One Option Are you aware that there is a bill before Congress attempting to outlaw any site that creates a link to places where paraphernalia of drug manufacturing information can be found? I ask this because it seems rather suspicious to me that someone would ask where to get a marijuana seed just out of the blue like that. Pardon me, please, for being so paranoid, but I personally would rather stick to issues on Cannabis News (FoM may have different policies, so I defer to her, of course. I may be out of line here). The fewer reasons to shut sites like this one down in the future, the better.I won't provide a link, but I'll give you some ideas of where you might find such a link. I think this is technically okay, even if the Methamphematine Anti-Proliferation Act passes.Having said that, go to a search engine and type in "Cannabis Culture" or "Mark Emory Seeds." There, you may find the information you're looking for.Hope this helps.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by Mike lattimore on February 11, 2001 at 15:55:19 PT: Can you tell me what store to get a marijuna seed What store what the number and is it in a plant store [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by Toker00 on February 11, 2001 at 13:09:16 PT A catchy idea! Apparently, this idea is catching on, Gyrfalcon. I recieved this e-mail yesterday and was asked to share it. California needs to Build 100,000 more WIndmillsby Howard_PearlmanI n order to generate electricty at a decent price California needs to build100,000 windmills. California could use at least 30,000 of these windmills assoon as possible!Each wind mill supplies enough electricity to power 100 houses 30,000 windmillsncould power 3 million houses and 100,000 windmills would provide power for 10million houses.These windmills could be concentrated in less than 200 of California's 130,000square miles or spread around to various farms all over the state!California's under used Aerospace Industries could be put to work building these100,000 windmills that will keep the money circulating in California!These much needed funds would spark a California economic Revival!Besides building all these windmills is a way to get even with the OIL companiesthat have given us these Recession causing high oil and natural gas prices!California it is time to do the right thing and let your energy andenvironmental problems blow away with the wind!Howard Scott Pearlman Http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/IhateBushFanClub--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Peace. Realize, then Legalize. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by Gyrfalcon on February 11, 2001 at 12:22:59 PT: Alternative Energy Sources Growers could easily use wind energy, which is abundant and economical. Especially in places with lots of wind. A 500-watt generator costs about $500 if you buy it to about $200 if you make it. Get about 5 to 8 generators, a few deep cycle batteries, and you're off grid. It's not as easy as it sounds, but the benefits of wind are:Initial cost cheaper than solar.Maintenance much cheaper than deasal.Fuel 100% free!Please, always get an electrician to do the stuff for you or research your ass off. (and get an electrician anyway, for God's sake).Electrocution IS a risk. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Toker00 on February 11, 2001 at 12:13:04 PT Right on ,Dan!! Not only would it help California, if we converted to bio-mass energy, it could solve the energy crisis of the world. Not to mention the polution crisis, the food shortage using cannabis seeds as food to feed the starving, the loss of our rights crisis, the prison crisis, the building material shortage, the global warming crisis...I'm sure much more could be added to this list.Peace. Realize, then Legalize. [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by Dan Hillman on February 11, 2001 at 11:48:30 PT Help solve California's energy crisis! Legalize cannabis so that plants may be grown in the open, under the sun. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: