Firstly let me say that the train of thought that brought me to think of this idea was for efficiency increasing ideas to start with, but then evolved as I saw a broader application for what I think I may have discovered. These ideas can also scale to smaller grow shows. Also, I'd like to say that I'm stoned out of my tree right now, so if there are parts that don't make sense, just ask. We start off with this basic premise: Plants need: water, CO2, light and nutrients. Knowing this, what gets a commercial grow caught? Typically 4 things: snitches, high power use, high water usage, growing garbage. We can never fully eliminate number 1 since help will be needed. Number two is a perplexing one, due to almost all grow systems being electric. Number 3 is not very common, just put out a kiddie pool or grow a nice garden, excuses are fairly easy. Number 4 can be remedied by using biodegradable mediums and having a nice vegetable garden. Leaving high power use as the number one challenge facing a commercial sized grow. How can we over come this? Some go the route of a "hot tap"... But with that comes unwanted attention, another enemy of any grower. The issue is such: How can we power the lights and maintain a low profile?.... Let's work backwards: can we possibly generate power while filling a potential need else where? The answer is somewhat simple, use gasoline generators that have been converted to propane... Or propane powered generators if you can get them. For anyone who's lost, I'll explain that statement and it's implications in detail now; we need power, generators provide power. However, most generators are gasoline based, creating toxic fumes. By converting it to propane, only 2 byproducts are produced in generating our needed power: CO2 and H2O(steam). The exhaust could be cooled and pumped into the grow rooms, CO2 augmentation and power generation all in one. You'd only have to build a specially enclosed room to dampen sound. That got me thinking, how could we make this system reliable and take it 100% off the grid? We have to look backwards again at what the plant needs: air and water(light being power). Air cannot generate power, unless we start talking wind power(possible, but not covered here). Water however is a byproduct of electric generation... Hydrogen fuel cells. To simply sum up my last few ramblings: If you used propane generators and hydrogen fuel cells, you could move 100% of your power needs off the grid, and possibly a portion of your water usage. You could even possibly do it with only propane generators. Anyways, that's just some theoretical info, use it as you want...
Just read about the propane generaters in Jorge Cervantes' book "Marijuana Hortucolture Indoor Medical marijuana grow bible"( I think thats the title) Dont know squat bout feul cells. Also dont forget Solar panels for you home on smaller grows, espesially if you just grow for your self, but im sure the extra wattage would become tempting. But at around $10,000 per kilo watt, you better be in the solar panel thing for the long haul. I plan on saving cas for a field of windmills, who knows what may lay underneath all that land?
That's actually what sparked my idea, initially. I didn't include wind or solar power as they are not as reliable... Neither generates power 24/7, and batteries take up precious growing space.
I have visited a few commercial operations that grow for SoCal's cannabis clubs. One had to go out of business because they ran on a diesel generator. The price of fuel took all the profit out of growing weed. Good news, you can use power off the grid without risk. A very successful operation set up five 220 electric kilns in an industrial park. They asked the local power company to inspect the line before starting up. A few bags of clay and some pots from Pottery-Barn for effect. The power company came out free of charge and asked them to upgrade a breaker and some other minor crap. I asked the main dude how he came up with this plan. He said "a shit load of us have been doing the same thing on a smaller scale out of our garages". Pottery as a hobby can make your electric usage go way up. The key is to let your power company know whats up and ask for help. They even made a bunch of cool stuff out of clay while waiting for the plants to grow. Now the main problem is trimming. No one wants to trim 80 pounds of dried bud. They had no good answers for this problem (if you think that is a problem). Buy them used on Craig's List.
I know the Ard-varc or however you spell it is shitty, but one of my friends swears by his "Big Red Shredder"... It's a very different design from the ard-varc, and from what I saw, it looked like it would trim the bud fine, but I think my buddy had a habit of trimming a bit too much off with it in my opinion.
How do you explain why your underground propane tank needs to be filled every week to your delivery company. I understand you have three Olympic sized pools in your yard. Solar is almost always reliable, and wind power is always reliable providing you live on the coast. The main problem is how much these systems cost, start saving your money now.
Most solar and wind generators can only be plugged back into the grid, offsetting your bill. Your electrical consumption is still logged in as dangerous or excessive, prompting a service call. To run off solar or wind, one would have to build a battery to store that power.
what if one had a shitload of solar panels all over their property? could solar generate such juice? is it economically feasible?
Nope, the batteries for something like that would probably bankrupt you.... And no I'm not saying your poor, just that the cost would be insanely high(in a bad way )... Plus as I mentioned before, all those batteries would take up valuable growing space. Solar is not always reliable, see the wikipedia entry on "clouds" for more info. Wind being reliable is heavily influenced on your local geography... You're suggestion that wind power is reliable is mute for many people. When was the last time you heard someone getting busted for using large amounts of propane?....... Just think about that one Plus delivery would be an immensely stupid idea, no offense.... Letting anyone into your home when you grow is a serious risk.... 2 100 pound tanks hooked up to a special valve will fuel a generator quite reliably... The special valve allows the 2 tanks to feed one generator.
lol, well if you don't get the propane delivered, how do you expect to get 200 lbs of propane at a time. I believe you have to have a hasmate license to transport large quantities of propane. And further more, how do you explain that periodic purchase of that large amount of propane? I would think a commercial grow would use like 20,000 Watts of electricity with everything powered on. I dunno anything about generators, but for the purpose of this thread, do the math!?
You should do some research first, transporting 200 pounds of propane doesn't require a delivery or any special license. Most converted pickups carry this much, 50 gallon tanks are about 220 pounds when full, this is the most common size. My friend uses a 100 pound tank for his CO2 burner because he doesn't want to use natural gas. (You also meant Haz-Mat, short for hazardous materials... As a matter of fact, I'll post some of it to prove my point) A 100 pound tank can be filled at any propane station. As for your comment on generators, again, do some research. Generators are readily available in wattages higher than what you stated(my google search had a 125kW in the sponsored links alone). Plus it is already well noted that many commercial growers, supplement hot taps with generators.... Just that most generators used by commercial growers are diesel based because of their higher fuel economy, my suggestion of propane was to leave a smaller carbon footprint. On the point of you telling me to do math, you really are uninformed and it shows... But that's the point of this thread, to spread knowledge. The average electricity consumed per light (including the fans and pumps) is 1600W for a 1000W light. I personally consider 10 lights or more to be commercial, this would use 16kW, for which there are many generators available. As for the last point of justifying large purchases of propane, simple, go to a different filling station. Also, as I have said before, when was the last time you heard of someone being busted for buying large amounts of propane? Last, but not least... This is the part that really makes my point, in the US and Canada, there is no reportable limit, meaning you could have a ton of propane and they can't do a thing, as long as your tanks are up to standards. P.S. Just because I put the words "Theory Only" in my post doesn't mean I'm posing a hypothetical question... These are viable methods dependent on scale.
Im thinking the guys who went out of buisness with the diesel generators were on the right track,but failed because of a lack of improvisation under distress of the fuel crisis. All they needed to do was(depending on the type of fuel system in the generator)is collect old used frier oil(aka WVO)from some small mom and pop fast food,oriental food places and run that or make bio-diesel and run that. Yes their is some good and bad with this but in some locations(like so cal.)this would be very possible.
Hmm, I had completely forgotten about bio-diesel... That'd be good if you wanted a mass amount of power... But my inner hippy still likes the idea of only having CO2 as the emission and having the plants use it
There are $900.00 costco diesel generators which could run a smaller op and use a small amt. of nice warm filtered de-watered WVO......and its FREE.Just make sure you have a small tank of petro diesel to run when shutting down the system for maintenence.
Thats a good idea Rumple but I personally prefer these Sorry for steering off topic, I can only learn from this thread but I thought someone might want these instead of a pottery kiln if your not into pottery. Plus you never know, what if you end up being the next Ms Pac Man champion of the world or something?