NEWS, NEWS, read all about it TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / November 9, 2021 / Toronto based CO2 GRO Inc. ("CO2 GRO") (TSXV:GROW)(OTCQB:BLONF)(Frankfurt:4021) is pleased to provide an overview of potential impacts of increasing energy costs, CO2 gas costs and carbon taxes on protected ag growers including greenhouse growers. Besides COVID-related labor shortages and supply chain bottlenecks, the recent sharp rise of fossil fuels,CO2 gas shortages rising costs, and carbon taxes globally are negatively impacting the profitability of all protected vegetable, flower and Cannabis growers. CO2 GRO believes now more than ever that all protected agriculture growers will realize increasingly significant benefits of its sustainable, highly efficient, low-cost CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology.
For example, natural gas is employed in the manufacture of ammonia which produces CO2 gas as a by-product. When natural gas prices increase dramatically as they have recently, the production of ammonia can be unprofitable leading to facility shutdowns as occurred at Terra Nitrogen in the UK and the loss of CO2 gas production that was being captured and delivered to greenhouses.
Carbon taxes are a policy tool to lower CO2 gas emissions. In greenhouses that gas CO2, and lose up to 95% via heat venting and building porosity, they may have to pay carbon taxes going forward or have to reduce their volume of CO2 gas used, hurting their plant yields.
In both of the above cases, a grower's profitability can be sharply reduced. While natural gas prices can and do fluctuate significantly, carbon taxes as a policy tool to reduce greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions are forecast to increase over the coming years. This suggests the CO2 input pricing pressures on facilities that purchase CO2 gas will increase over time.
CO2 GRO's CO2 Delivery Solutions™ is the only CO2 application method that reduces the environmental impact per unit of yield produced in all of the globe's greenhouses that currently employ CO2 gassing while reducing their operating costs. CO2 use in sealed greenhouses and indoor operations can be reduced by up to 90% using CO2 Delivery Solutions'™. Its targeted and efficient delivery of CO2to plant surfaces can help all protected ag growers worldwide increase yields by up to 30% and potentially double their profitability. Over time as CO2 emission taxes increase, CO2 GRO believes the most economically efficient way of providing plants with added CO2 in both sealed and unsealed greenhouses is through the use of CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology.
Since 2018, CO2 GRO has scientifically and commercially proven that misting a dissolved CO2 solution on plant leaves enhances plant yields by up to 30% versus ambient or sub-optimal CO2 concentrations. Nearly all of the CO2 in the solution is diffused into the plants, with minimal CO2 evaporating into the atmosphere. CO2 emissions taxes would be saved by growers gassing CO2, while at minimum, achieving the same plant yields they get today using up to 90% less CO2. The benefits to consumers are many, including increasing the supply of locally grown food, improving food security, improving food quality, reducing GHG emissions by shortening supply chains and significantly reducing CO2 emissions from the greenhouses themselves.
Since Q4 2019, GROW has sold twenty-four systems in North America and announced twenty-seven commercial feasibilities in ten countries. The collective grow facility ownership of these twenty-seven is close to 200,000,000 square feet of predominantly vegetables (one commercial feasibility is being conducted by a vegetable grower with 100,000,000 square feet under cultivation). This total represents only 0.003% of the massive 600 billion square foot global protected ag capacity.
CO2 Delivery Solutions™ addresses nine of the following United Nations' Sustainability Goals
1. Will enrich all global protected ag farmers.
2. Will increase food supply from existing protected ag structures.
3. Improves the quality and safety of protected ag food production as well as human worker health in glasshouses that gas with CO2 by displacing 90% of CO2 in the grow room air.
9. Reduces new protected ag infrastructure requirements.
11. Works in urban and vertical protected ag facilities in cities.
12. More responsible and sustainable food production.
13. Uses 90% less CO2 to achieve better yield results in glasshouses as all glasshouses have to vent heat, losing their targeted CO2 gassing concentrations.
15. Will improve protected ag food production at lower cost supporting life on land as well as reducing the need for expanding land use for food production.
17. We will operate internationally with local partners.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
IPCC defines carbon intensity asemissionsof CO2released per unit of GDP, output energy use or transport. For protected ag, it would be CO2 not absorbed per unit of plant yield plus CO2 emitted producing the steel, glass, plastics and transport of materials to build protected ag facilities. For greenhouses that purchase CO2 or use CO2 from boilers or power generation units, the ongoing transport of CO2 gas supplies, as well as the ongoing burning of fossil fuels, add to indirect and direct CO2 emissions.
Use of CO2 GRO's CO2 Delivery Solutions™ can further add to plant yields and lower the carbon footprint of the eight billion square feet of mostly sealed greenhouses globally that gas CO2. Misting dissolved CO2 instead of CO2 gassing works when greenhouses vent heat that drops their desired 800-1500 PPM CO2 levels to 400 PPM (ambient conditions) or less as plants consume CO2. Commercial feasibilities to measure the additional yield at greenhouses that do gas CO2 but vent, are underway in Canada, the UK and the US.
COP 26 Glasgow
The urgency of reducing CO2 emissions to limit climate change is evidenced by government policies and goals which are being discussed at the COP 26 Glasgow Summit. CO2 GRO believes use of CO2 Delivery Solutions™ can cut CO2 gassing emissions from greenhouses from up to 90% loss to less than 10% loss. A million square foot greenhouse with a 20-foot ceiling needs to inject enough CO2 gas to fill all 20 million cubic feet to desired CO2 levels. Precisely targeting dissolved CO2 directly on leaves eliminates the need to fill an entire greenhouse with CO2 gas. CO2 GRO believes that greenhouses currently gas CO2will get CO2 credits for cutting their CO2 emissions by switching to CO2 Delivery Solutions™. Current EU CO2 emission credits are €55/tonne (C$80/tonne), with Canada at C$40/tonne targeting $170/tonne by 2030.
CO2 GRO believes our CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology can play a critical role in helping both sealed and unsealed or protected ag growers that vent CO2 reduce the expected impacts of higher CO2 gas prices and carbon taxes while improving production and profitability. With respect to the environment, GHG emissions from growing food can be significantly reduced by the wide-scale deployment of CO2 Delivery Solutions in all protected agriculture. CO2 GRO believes in healthy People, a healthy Planet and healthy Profits while reinforcing sustainability needs for the planet and long term enterprise value."
Visit www.co2delivery.ca for more information on CO2 Delivery Solutions™ or watch this video. To see a CO2 Delivery Solutions™ VCO2 system installation, watch this video.
About CO2 GRO Inc.CO2 GRO Inc.
CO2 GRO's proprietary CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology is revolutionizing the global 600 billion square foot protected agriculture industry (Cuesta Roble 2019). We create a dissolved CO2 solution that when misted onto plants provides growers that cannot gas with CO2 the opportunity to increase plant yields by up to 30% and profits by up to 100%. Applying dissolved CO2 also suppressed the development of pathogens such as E.coli and powdery mildew, helping to reduce crop losses. CO2 GRO's CO2 Delivery Solutions™ is protected by a suite of patents and patents pending.
The worldwide market for CO2 GRO's disruptive CO2 Delivery Solutions™ technology is the 50 billion square feet of greenhouses and 550 billion square feet of protected agriculture facilities (Cuesta Roble 2019). Growers can maximize revenue and profits with our systems' low fixed and variable costs and ease of systems installation.
CO2 GRO's management is rapidly expanding its international marketing partner relationships into Mexico, Spain, the EU, the UK, South Africa, the Middle East, South East Asia and Latin America as well as in its North American base.
CO2 GRO is committed to good Environment, Social and Governance (ES&G) policy and practices. We are an equal opportunity employer of choice and opportunity.
Our mission is to accelerate the growth of all value plants safely, economically, naturally and sustainably using our patented advanced CO2 Delivery Solutions™ while accreting value to our customers, stakeholders and shareholders.