Three Humboldt State students, with less than a week left before they graduate, are headed to Sacramento on Thursday for the annual California State University Student Researcher Awards ceremony.

Cheyenna Burrows, Jenna Kelmser and Wyatt Kozelka, all of whom majored in environmental science management, have created a modeling tool as their capstone research project, a tool to determine the carbon footprint a indoor or mixed-light cannabis grow.

Their project — “Cannabis Carbon Accounting and Modeling” — was one of 10 research projects honored by HSU and the goal of the model is to help growers understand the emissions they generate throughout the growing process.

“It allows you to plug in the values of your existing emissions and allows you go to back and ask what if I changed my growing method, what if I changed my lighting” Kozelka said Tuesday afternoon. “Another key factor is changing your power source. Are you using a diesel generator that puts out a ton of emissions, or, what about solar instead?”

The model, described as “currently being in the beta test stage” by the students, was born after the county passed its commercial medical marijuana land use ordinance in 2016.

Among the county regulations are rules banning the use of generators for permitted grows and that all indoor permitted grows in the county be connected to the power grid.

The students set out to create a user-friendly way for a cultivator to calculate just how large the carbon footprint is and offers alternatives to lessen that impact.

“You either have to be connected to the grid or getting your power from offsetting renewables,” Burrows said. “The use of generators is being phased out through county regulations.”

The students coordinated with Humboldt Green, an Arcata cannabis consulting business created by Stephen Gieder, and used some of the information from an earlier model Gieder and others created for use by the city of Arcata.

Gieder’s involvement came from his relationship with HSU professor Kevin Fingerman, who was the faculty advisor for the students, and Gieder was able to provide support in the efforts.

“This project aligns well with the work we are doing,” Gieder said Tuesday. “I was aware of the project and was able to introduce them to some of the new technology and the best practices that can really help farmers, with indoor or mixed-light grows, to conserve energy.”

The project found that the type of power source and the type of lights used in the grow dramatically affected the carbon footprint. Growing plants used more energy during the flowering phase and the study found that by using natural light, it greatly reduced the amount of energy used during cultivation.

“They [cultivators] want to do it the right way but they may not know how,” Kelmser said, “and this tool will help them figure that out, it can show them what their best alternative is.”

Cultivators also have new technology available for indoor grows and that includes induction lighting and combined with practices such as spacing the plants properly and changing a power source, they can drastically reduce the footprint.

Making money from the model wasn’t the goal when they started the project but as it moves forward it could be a new tool for the growing cannabis industry.

“We can add to it, add more information, basically add a lot more data and that will be available to growers,” Kozelka said. “There is also a lot more at stake now that regulations are in place. We can fine tune this thing and use it to build in new features.”

In the future, the modeling tool doesn’t have to be used solely for the use of electricity and the carbon footprint, it can be adapted to other industry concerns as well.

“I think that if the government were to use this tool, a lot more people would come forward to get permitted,” Kelmser said. “We can use it for general enviro impacts like nutrient runoffs, water issues and just general environmental impacts at a grow site.”

When it’s fully completed, the modeling tool will allow users to see a visual representation of their carbon footprint over the course of the year and check whether a change in equipment or other factors can lessen the environmental impact.

“As legalization takes hold, and these operations come out of the hills, this sort of standard oversight will reach into the cannabis industry,” Fingerman said. “Energy use impacts are less than say, water impacts, but the hope is that a cultivator will save some money and reduce their impact and this tool will help them manage that.

Burrows, Kelmser and Kozelka will make their final presentation in front of a board of judges on Saturday morning. They will make a 10-minute presentation and the answer any questions. The awards ceremony will take place Saturday night at Sacramento State University.

Dan Squier can be reached at 707-441-0528.