What Do You Do To Keep Your Rooms "green"

[CelticEBE]

The title is a bit misleading. I'm not talking about your plants.....I'm talking about offsetting carbon footprints and being kind to the environment.

I'm about to set up a new spot and have been bouncing a LOT of different idea's around in my head on ways to recycle, reuse, and reduce waste and what not. So I thought I would start a thread and see what you guys have come up with in your rooms.

This is one example of what I am talking about.

Geothermal HVAC.

Ground temps in my area stay pretty stable at 55 degrees. From the research that I have done burying 500' of 1.5" abs would give me 1 ton of cooling capacity. A water/glycol solution would run through the closed loop system via a pump and then into a water cooled air handler and then back to the "Earth Loop". So if I needed 5 tons of cooling I would use 2500' of 1.5" abs.

The start up costs may be a bit more, but I see quite a few advantages. Running a pump 24/7 would use a LOT less electricity than a 5 ton water chiller. I would also loose the noise of said water chiller...which my neighbors would appreciate I'm sure. Not much maintenance involved with the pump or the air handlers.

Not sure if I will be doing this on my upcoming project or not.....but it is something I will definitely be doing in the future.

So, this is just one of the idea's that I have running around in the hamster wheel in my skull. What do you guys and gals do to stay GREEN?

 

[motherlode]

trying to use more sustainable mediums and inputs - ie insect frass or seabird guano as opposed to bat guano which is generally harvested in a destructive fashion

using the least amount of electricity - 4 light rooms are easily managed without the need for AC/dehumidifiers/chillers etc - shit I even run open hoods and I live were it gets hot in the summer

dig the geothermal cooling idea!

 

[Shamus]

https://www.thcfarmer.com/community/threads/up-cycling-indoor-grow-stuffs.71162/

Tried making this a thing but it didn't really catch on.

I have a few ideas but the girlfriend was like why share them if no one has any input. I lol'd

 

[kolah]

I'd like to see more indoor grows using natural sunlight with lots of windows and skylights in the grow rooms and only using electric lighting for supplemental lighting when needed. You could have remote controllers to operate your dark cycles as well (which would automatically close up the windows and skylights)

 

[ShroomKing]

Geothermal cooling systems are not easy to set up or maintain. And if your trying to cool large spaces it gets even harder. And geothermal systems do not collect humidity. Don't see these systems at their current tech level as being feasible for grow ops.
Best of luck.
Peace

 

[CelticEBE]

I'd like to see more indoor grows using natural sunlight with lots of windows and skylights in the grow rooms and only using electric lighting for supplemental lighting when needed. You could have remote controllers to operate your dark cycles as well (which would automatically close up the windows and skylights)

I was going to do something like this with a buddy in LA...but it never came to fruition because I moved to NorCal.

 

[Bulldog11]

Greenhouse.

 

[CelticEBE]

Geothermal cooling systems are not easy to set up or maintain. And if your trying to cool large spaces it gets even harder. And geothermal systems do not collect humidity. Don't see these systems at their current tech level as being feasible for grow ops.
Best of luck.
Peace

I ran two 5 ton water cooled air handlers and a 2 1/2 ton water cooled air handler in a previous operation that dehumidified.....while they were running.

As I stated, I think start up cost would run a bit higher.....but the payback would be from running a LOT less electricity.

Not sure what you mean by not easy to maintain. But what I am talking would be pretty simple. Essentially I'm saying you could replace a water chiller with enough pipe in the ground.....and use that water to cool off your rooms.

 

[ShroomKing]

I ran two 5 ton water cooled air handlers and a 2 1/2 ton water cooled air handler in a previous operation that dehumidified.....while they were running.

As I stated, I think start up cost would run a bit higher.....but the payback would be from running a LOT less electricity.

Not sure what you mean by not easy to maintain. But what I am talking would be pretty simple. Essentially I'm saying you could replace a water chiller with enough pipe in the ground.....and use that water to cool off your rooms.

In my other life I'm a certified electronics technician. I helped install a huge geothermal cooling systems in government buildings. It was my job wiring and installing control panels. I know that the system we were maintaining was leaky, let humidity build up, couldn't handle abrupt temp changes and used alot of electricity for water pumps, and still needed compressed gas chillers to work properly. But it was government, work for all I know it could of been designed NOT to work. Lol
Best of luck.
Peace

 

[CelticEBE]

In my other life I'm a certified electronics technician. I helped install a huge geothermal cooling systems in government buildings. It was my job wiring and installing control panels. I know that the system we were maintaining was leaky, let humidity build up, couldn't handle abrupt temp changes and used alot of electricity for water pumps, and still needed compressed gas chillers to work properly. But it was government, work for all I know it could of been designed NOT to work. Lol
Best of luck.
Peace

HAHAHAHA!

Yeah.....I could see that. The Government doesn't always keep things simple.

The whole geothermal thing came to mind after I moved from SoCal to NorCal. When I was down there I was running an 8k flip and had limited amperage for my cooling so I went with Hydro Innovations 5 ton Banks water chiller and two 5 ton water cooled air handlers for the flower rooms and a 2 1/2 ton for Veg. Worked well for me. No leaks. The only thing, was that I wasn't used to not having something drawing humidity out when lights were off. When lights were on and the handlers were running it kept things right at 60%.

 

[mojavegreen]

:DThat's easy, ro waste water feeds my swamp cooler which cools my garden.

 

[midwestdensies]

I use 600s. Re use coco over and over. water from ac and deheuys are uv filtered and put into res to use daily.

 

[GrowGod]

I got digital ballast.... LoL my grow is the exact opposite of green except for the plants:cool:

 

[CelticEBE]

I got digital ballast.... LoL my grow is the exact opposite of green except for the plants:cool:

Exactly why I started this thread. Most indoor growing isn't exactly environmentally friendly.

I use 600s. Re use coco over and over. water from ac and deheuys are uv filtered and put into res to use daily.

I've been on the same coco for over 3 years now. I was planing on recycling my dehuey water in the new build out. I used to do it until people scared me off it because I wasn't sending it through a UV.

 

[midwestdensies]

Exactly why I started this thread. Most indoor growing isn't exactly environmentally friendly.


I've been on the same coco for over 3 years now. I was planing on recycling my dehuey water in the new build out. I used to do it until people scared me off it because I wasn't sending it through a UV.

Its real easy just go to a fish shop and dont skimp buy a nice one and geta small pump and tote on a timer so they empty throughout the day. So clutch.

 

[CelticEBE]

Its real easy just go to a fish shop and dont skimp buy a nice one and geta small pump and tote on a timer so they empty throughout the day. So clutch.

Yep....I already bought a UV filter just for reclaiming.

 

[Seamaiden]

I stay green by mostly *not* growing indoors. But, if I were to do it, we're on 12KW solar. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be enough to be able to run a single 8'x8' room with two 600W fixtures and a single 10" extraction fan without incurring costs to PG&E of several hundred dollars a month, STILL. I can't fucking figure out how that works, but there it is.

r seabird guano as opposed to bat guano which is generally harvested in a destructive fashion

IIRC, seabird guano comes with its own set of sustainability problems because they're using fossil(ized? aged at the very least) sources. Can't recall where I read it, was years and years and years ago. Birdshit is pretty good stuff, though. :)

 

[Confuten1]

I use 600s. Re use coco over and over. water from ac and deheuys are uv filtered and put into res to use daily.

you got some picture/info of ur UV filtering ac/dehuy water?

confu

 

[midwestdensies]

Its in my new room new year thread @Conften1 . Pretty simple to setup up. Uv filter, water pump, tote/res and timer. Have recycle water go into tote and uv filter on timer to drain into main res as needed or before recycle rez fills. Get a nice pump

 

[Confuten1]

I stay green by mostly *not* growing indoors. But, if I were to do it, we're on 12KW solar. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be enough to be able to run a single 8'x8' room with two 600W fixtures and a single 10" extraction fan without incurring costs to PG&E of several hundred dollars a month, STILL. I can't fucking figure out how that works, but there it is.

IIRC, seabird guano comes with its own set of sustainability problems because they're using fossil(ized? aged at the very least) sources. Can't recall where I read it, was years and years and years ago. Birdshit is pretty good stuff, though. :)

Hey @Seamaiden , as you already know, it ISNOT feasable to run a grow opp with SOLAR Panels. I use to do marketing for a large residential Solar company in Cali and when growers found out what i did they would always tell me they wanted solar for their grow and i had to explain to them that it ISNOT a feasible option do to cost of installation/equipment even with rebates and incentives.
Basically u would need to spend over 100k in solar to fully run a 6k room. nobody in their right mind would drop that kind of coinage upfront jus to save 1500-2000$ a month on electricity. Yea in the long run( 10-years), ull save money but in the short term most most people would take that 100k and blow out a 30K and make that 100k back in less than 6 months as apposed to 10+years.
confu