RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Glasshouse germinated? // "It's not hard to tell on a map where the strongest solar energy in California is."//
Scopro, you are arguing with an environmental engineer specializing it what? ... controlled environment agriculture, that's what. What this means is that I design cannabis facilities for a living currently (and I am also the owner of Walker River Farms, a licenced CA cannabis facility). You're not going to educate me on the physics of greenhouses.
I'll ask you this ... if super intense sun is more productive for growing cannabis, why did Sunniva (and all the other greenhouse growers) spend millions of dollars for automated shades in their glasshouses? I'll tell you why -- because super intense sun isn't the the best thing for growing today's hybrid strains. What you want is a good DLI (Daily Light Integral) spread out over as many hours in the day as possible.
Cannabis can only use so much PPFD (photosynthetic photon flux density) before it tops out. That required PPFD is around 2,000 micromoles/square meter/second, and there isn't a place in CA that doesn't get that on a clear sunny daily basis. Cannabis greenhouses include the shade curtains because they don't need the intense midday sun (even in SB County) and it again it saves on cooling costs.
// "Also, did you know that cooling doesn't require as much energy as heating?"//
For an uninsulated structure, you're correct. For an uninsulated, glass top, controlled environment (read *air conditioned*) structure such as a greenhouse in an extremely hot climate, you're wrong. With a glass top, solar loads dominate. BUT, let's forgive you that ignorance and just assume its true - you're conclusion is still faulty and here's why:
Google the average winter season lows for both Cathedral City and San Ynez Valley and you'll find out there are almost exactly the same (+/- 2f).
You see, while it's MUCH hotter in CatCity, it's NOT any colder in San Ynez. This means that the heating costs are essentially the same in both places while the cooling costs are much higher in CatCity. Higher production costs follow.
// "Sunniva are not the builders."//
Irrelevant -- Barker Pacific wasn't going to pay the power bill nor the taxes (and maybe/maybe not the construction overruns)
// " Neither the location, nor the extra $30 million, nor the taxes cumulatively prohibit a highly successful cannabis cultivation business in Cathedral City, California."//
It's really funny you say that, because what you could be learning in real time (if you weren't avoiding reality) is that you're wrong. They are failing miserably precisely because the combined load (which you claim is no big deal) has left them broke and sinking.
When your hypothesis isn't reflecting the real world results, time to alter your hypothesis.