“Lumens are for humans,” but not plants—including cannabis, says Kyle Booth, Associate Member ASHRAE. 

On the latest episode of ASHRAE Journal Podcast, Booth and Dan Dettmers, Member ASHRAE, discuss what controlled environment agriculture demands of HVAC systems (7:55), the patchwork regulations born from increasing legalization of cannabis (26:30) and how cannabis grow facilities are helping the CEA and HVAC&R industries develop equipment as the “grow local” food movement gets louder (40:55). 

Dettmers and Booth start the podcast talking about the three loads CEA facilities demand: lighting, cooling and latent loads (7:55). Then, the duo discusses the high energy use intensity of indoor grow facilities (4:30) and dive into a history lesson of legality and regulations that come along with growing cannabis (4:50 and 22:45).