The release of Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC) regulations Nov. 7 will allow for streamlined reporting for cannabis cultivators. The new reporting requirements include a benchmarking feature that will also enable Commonwealth cultivators to measure and compare their energy and water efficiency performance to other operations, thus becoming empowered to drive down costs.
“Massachusetts is leading the way on policy and is already having an impact on other states, such as Illinois and California, which are working on their own state-specific cultivation energy policies,” said Derek Smith, executive director of the Resource Innovation Institute. "Massachusetts’ regulations have been designed to support cannabis cultivators to become more efficient enterprises, which will ultimately help them be more competitive in the long term."
RII's Cannabis PowerScore enables cultivators to compare their resource usage with that of other growers. Cultivators can receive an instant performance benchmark at CannabisPowerscore.org.
Massachusetts, which has been ranked No. 1 on ACEEE’s 2019 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard for eight years in a row, is home to the first cannabis market in the world to create cultivation guidelines and regulations to improve resource efficiency. The state's framework of standards and regulations was used as a model earlier this year by Illinois, which took a proactive approach to regulating resource use when it recently legalized adult-use cannabis.