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Colorado's Lucrative Pot Industry Has Huge Energy Footprint

The marijuana industry in Colorado brings in 100 million dollars a month and has created thousands of new jobs. But since the sale of recreational pot began two years ago, there’s been an unintended consequence to growing marijuana indoors: it uses a large amount of electricity.

Denver is committed to cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by half of its 2012 levels by 2020.  To help meet that challenge, Emily Backus of Denver’s Department of Environmental Health tells Here and Now’s Meghna Chakrabarti what the city is doing to help marijuana growers reduce their electricity use.

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A cannabis plant greets job seekers as they sign in at CannaSearch, Colorado's first cannabis job fair, on March 13, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
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A cannabis plant greets job seekers as they sign in at CannaSearch, Colorado's first cannabis job fair, on March 13, 2014 in Denver, Colorado. (Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)