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Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Masters Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Environmental Sciences

First Advisor

Barnhart, Charles

Second Advisor

Sheikh, Imran

Third Advisor

Sifuentes, Froylan

Abstract

Legalization for medicinal and recreational consumption of Cannabis L. Sativa has created new and rapidly growing industries across the United States. Methods for producing cannabis products rely upon energy, water, and material inputs. Innovation in these methods have focused on increasing product potency and improving the use experience while neglecting the efficiency of the production process. Comparative life cycle assessments quantify the total embodied carbon emissions in a production process. The existing literature on this topic is limited, though some national estimates exist. We were given access to three cultivation facilities and two processing labs (Open-Field, Mixed-Light, Indoor Plant Farm, and (2) processing labs) where we collected annual data on energy, water, transport, and material inputs as well as annual product output rates. We found a range of emission rates from 12 to 140 kilograms of CO2e per kg of dried product at the point of sale. Results in biomass production across all methods averaged to 62 kg CO2e per kilogram of dried cannabis biomass. Extraction methods across all methods averaged to about 4 kg CO2e per gram of cannabis oil. An analysis of hourly emission rates showed the average emission rate methodology reports higher emissions than applying block emission rates for corresponding hours.

Type

Text

Keywords

LCA, Carbon Dioxide, Embodied, Emissions, Life Cycle Assessment, Life Cycle Analysis, Cannabis, Washington, Environmental Impact, Marginal Emission

Publisher

Western Washington University

OCLC Number

1522135340

Subject – LCSH

Cannabis--Washington (State); Marijuana industry--Washington (State); Environmental impact analysis--Washington (State); Carbon dioxide--Washington (State)

Geographic Coverage

Washington (State)

Format

application/pdf

Genre/Form

masters theses

Language

English

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Rights Statement

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/

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