Episode 37 | How Minnesota Cannabis Businesses Are Saving Thousands on Cultivation Buildouts | Brad Obermueller, CEE

As Minnesota's cannabis industry moves from licensing into active cultivation, operators are discovering that power, energy efficiency, and facility planning can make or break a project.

In this episode of The Canna Connect Show, Steven Eigenmann sits down with Brad Obermueller of CEE (Center for Energy and Environment) to discuss how Minnesota cannabis cultivators are navigating facility buildouts, utility requirements, lighting rebates, and energy planning.

Brad shares what CEE is seeing across dozens of cultivation projects, why the Builder's Call Line is one of the most important resources available to growers, and how energy-efficient lighting systems can unlock significant savings for licensed operators.

The conversation also explores Minnesota's emerging craft cultivation ecosystem, lessons learned from early cultivation projects, and how growers can position themselves for long-term success.

Topics include:

• Minnesota cannabis cultivation infrastructure
 • Energy-efficient grow facility design
 • LED lighting rebates for cannabis businesses
 • The Builder's Call Line and utility planning
 • Frost Leaf's cultivation project case study
 • Craft cannabis cultivation in Minnesota
 • Home grow lighting rebates
 • Power consumption and cultivation planning
 • Building trust within the cannabis industry
 • The future of Minnesota cannabis cultivation

Meet Brad & the CEE Team at CannaCon

Brad and the CEE team will be exhibiting at CannaCon St. Paul on June 26-27, 2025. If you're planning a cultivation facility or exploring energy rebates for your cannabis business, stop by their booth and learn how CEE can help reduce project costs and improve long-term efficiency.

Connect with Canna Connect:

🌐 https://cannaconnectmn.com

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Every episode, Community Spotlight, and partner profile helps connect Minnesota's cannabis industry. Visit CannaConnectMN.com to explore interviews, resources, events, and the trusted organizations helping shape the future of cannabis in Minnesota.

Transcript

Introduction & Welcome

SPEAKER_00 0:01

The thoughts, views, and opinions expressed on the CannaConnect show belong solely to the individuals and do not reflect those of Canaconnect and its affiliates, sponsors, or partners. CannaConnect does not promote or facilitate any activity that violates state or federal regulations. Everything you hear here is strictly for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not legal advice. It is not financial guidance, and it's definitely not medical direction. Seriously, don't take our word for it. Even if someone on the mic sounds like they know what they're talking about, and they're probably crazy smart too. Regardless of how legit our guests may be, you should always do your own homework, consult with your attorney, and understand the risk you're taking before you do anything when it comes to cannabis. Our intention is to keep it real. If you've got a problem with anything we've said, take us to court.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

You want to try this?

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Yeah.

Minnesota Cannabis Buildout Progress Report

SPEAKER_02 1:03

The Green Standard is now available across Minnesota through GRD distribution. If you aren't seeing it at your liquor store, hem shop, or dispensary, ask the uh staff and they can potentially bring it in. How much is changing now with with uh spring and into into summer? I mean, you guys are gonna be at Nikan, you're gonna be at Canacon. How are the conversations? How are things progressing generally? I mean, is it still kind of that same pace?

SPEAKER_01 1:33

It's exciting. And um thanks for having us again on the show because um it's it's important for us to so uh every so often join you and talk about you know the progress of what we're seeing in the market, you know, and when we first started to now, you know, we're seeing projects, at least there was interest, right? But now we've had 32

32 Projects, 12 Active Builds & Industry Momentum

SPEAKER_01 2:00

projects get built. Okay, we've had uh six of them close out, and we've had we have 12 that are currently signed up in the process of uh getting completed.

SPEAKER_02 2:12

And that means that they're in XL Energy Territory, correct? They're a micro business, and they may be licensed or they may be pre-approved and they may be getting licensed depending on where they're at with their overall build-out.

SPEAKER_01 2:26

Yes. I would say the ones that are signed up have the license, have the approvals, have the the builder's call line, they have the power, everything is in motion. Um, now that's with the 12 that are signed up. Yeah, in order to get signed up, you know, there's some steps that people need to be conscientious of in order to get to the finish line. But um, in those 32, you know, as far as what Tony and I need and CEE and Excel, um, they're getting the ball rolling, they they are pre-approved. Um, and then yeah, it's up to us to kind of help them along. You know, everybody's different, every business is different.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Hey everybody, Steven with Canaconnect.

Sponsor Spotlight: CEE

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Taking a quick minute to shout out today's sponsor, CE. That is the Center for Energy and Environment. If you're not familiar with CE, they're your one-stop shop for all lighting rebates. If you are in XL Energy Territory and you're a micro business, CE is somebody that you need to talk to. Give Brad a call, give Tony a call, go online, one-stop shop, LED lighting rebates. They'll help take care of up to 60% of the cost associated with your grow and your build out with the lighting. Uh, really nice people, great people to work with, huge sponsors of CannaConnect, and uh give them a shout. That's CEE, Center for Energy and Environment. You mentioned

Why the Builder's Call Line Matters

SPEAKER_02 3:53

builder's call line. Yeah. Where does that come into play when somebody's first reaching out to CEE or they're uh they they found their location?

SPEAKER_01 4:02

You know, whether whether it's um us directly or Excel directly, the builder's call line is very important. And to do that early on, what that does uh is their engineer team will take the project scope that you want to do, any any grower, right? And let's say that that micro license is 5,000 square feet canopy. All right, what we're seeing is they might be doing 400 fixtures or they might be doing 15 fixtures. The phasing is what we're seeing now with a lot of these growers, they're starting small, getting the capital, and then going bigger. The builder's call line can see, hey, there's a 10-month lead for a new transformer. But in order to complete this first phase, yes, it has the right power. But if they need an additional transformer, if that area does, that builder's call line is going to say, you have enough power in this building, and the building surrounding won't be punished or penalized for the power draw. So, yes, now we can move forward with the utilities to grant these rebates. What's happening is the builder's call line could say, Hey, with all this power draw, sorry, we cannot do this grow. And you don't want to find that out at the end because now that entire property will be shut down, right?

Power Requirements & Cultivation Planning

SPEAKER_01 5:24

So the earlier people can just inquire, and that's just sending an email to us. Uh, we can introduce them to uh the builder's call line, but it's very important because of the timeline, because of how the money flows in this market, that you kind of have to have your ducks in a row. And we're finding that um, you know, it just takes due diligence on our part to follow up, make sure, okay, this location does. We're finding that a lot of cultivators are kind of pocketing in the same areas. Okay. So the draw is gonna be higher. So we need to uh be prepared for that power draw. Wow. And if people are phasing, the one thing I'd I would suggest or ask is you know, plan the full scope of canopy right away, even if you're not gonna do that. So, what I mean is let's let's say like if you know you're gonna get up to that 4,000, 5,000 canopy

Why Growers Should Plan for Future Expansion

SPEAKER_01 6:20

at some point, let's propose that to the builder's call line, but we can rebate a smaller amount of fixtures to make it profitable for the customer.

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Um simple math would be like uh I'm gonna start with 1,500 square feet of canopy, then I'm gonna go to 3,000 square foot of canopy, then I'm gonna go up to 5,000. Exactly. That's how some microbusines are.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

That's how a lot of them are are doing it now. That's what we're seeing, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

And if they're in XL Energy territory and they're working with CE, you can get them a rebate for the first stage, and then they could come back when they're ready to get to 3,000 square feet. They can still work with CE. It's not just a one-time opportunity, and then 4,500 or 5,000 square feet. You guys are available all throughout that process as long

Understanding Rebate Opportunities

SPEAKER_02 7:10

as they're a micro business in XL Energy territory.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Correct. And what we're finding is groups like What Rebates, you know, these third-party facilitators, they're calling us and they're managing front loading our rebate to help these customers. You know, our rebate is is higher as far as funds go to really help these customers move forward. And and we're seeing those, those PPE, those, those extra um 10, 15 cents a watt are playing huge dividends in these customers getting these final approvals to go forward. The the what rebates to you know, say, hey, you know, this rebate can get turned around quickly with CE. You know, we're we're dotting all of our I's crossing the T's on every project. Yeah.

How CEE Supports Cannabis Operators

SPEAKER_01 8:00

And then they can do, you know, the lighting, HVAC, dehumidification, kind of take the entire envelope, yeah, and and support the customer in that way. And they know how to use the utilities uh because of their experience in other um cannabis uh communities across the United States. And it's it's you know, the teamwork that that and the team and and the the partners that we've created, you know, through you guys, through all these shows that we have, um, it's kind of coming to fruition as far as you know, we get a we get a call or a question, we have everyone to talk to, you know, to find a location, to find lights, to, you know, support with uh maybe like a what rebates with or uh green rebates or any of those third party. So there are avenues for everybody, and now we're starting to see that you know it could be a simple question as far as

Building Minnesota's Cannabis Support Network

SPEAKER_01 9:00

what do I do? I have no clue, or they can have the whole plan and what's next. So we're we're we're positioned in a way to see like this market actually uh being real now. Yeah, it's not it's not a pipe dream, it's um it's a reality. And the the funds that we're we're providing $75,000 in rebates just just in six projects that have closed. Right. You know, um, so that's showing you that the phases are going down because if you max out, you can get up to five five hundred thousand in a rebate, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:36

So um so I'm hearing like you guys are part of the ecosystem. When you you guys are part of the circle, you're in the circle, you look across, you know the person that you're gonna reach out to, or the person next to you, you can pass or ask, depending on the situation, you can pass the question over, you can ask the question and give back to the potential. Do you call them projects, accounts, customers? Like when you're like the group in uh uh Frostleaf,

Frost Leaf Cultivation Project Overview

SPEAKER_02 10:06

yeah in Watertown, like using them as an example and let's talk more about them. Yeah, are they a customer of CE or a par partner? Where do you how do you what vernacular do you use?

SPEAKER_01 10:17

So yeah, they Frostleaf is the customer to us, all right. And Thrive Agritic is our partner, and Thrive is taking on the uh technological advancements in cultivation, and what they are known for and what makes them so unique in the market is the remote power systems that they offer because what we're what we're seeing is uh the NEC has a uh 401 clause, and that is for all uh CGFIs

New Cultivation Technology & Energy Savings

SPEAKER_01 11:00

to basically have a trip on every outlet. So every fixture that has a cord needs to have um a fail safe, okay? Um something for the ground fault, um, for the for the power to um not overload, not overwhelm. Well, what they can do thrive with Frostleaf is put in this new technology that's gonna draw the demand way down. And so the energy savings are state of the art on Frostleaf. So for Frostleaf and us, and being so new to the Minnesota market and seeing these micros thrive and really create this micro cultivation and and kind bud, right? It's not this bulk product that you're seeing all across the United States. Um, these cultivators can actually make a living on this product. Well, in order to do that and grow this fantastic product, you have to have systems available, right? It's not the high-pressure sodium systems that we were seeing in the past. These guys like Jay at Thrive Agritech got together with Frostleaf and said, let's do something state of the art that's not around anywhere else. So when we saw

Creating a Model for Minnesota Growers

SPEAKER_01 12:10

that, I went to CE and said, hey, let's see if Frostleaf would be interested in a um, you know, a testimonial where we can do a case study with them and talk about um, you know, the new technology, how they're incorporating all these laws that are prohibiting these cultivations from getting uh approved by the state or the inspections or the the power supplies that they need. So when we get that case study out there and share it with teams like you or the um uh College of Cannabis, right? Um, people like that going to NECAN, sharing these stories of, hey, there is a way to expedite these cultivations, doing it the right way. It might seem expensive up front, but you don't have to go as big as Frostleaf, right? You we can we can do it smaller and do it the right way. And that's what we're seeing. We're seeing the influence from guys like Frostleaf that are trying to be innovators in the cultivation in Minnesota, and it's really cool. And the more, you know, um this group, this community, yeah,

Craft Cannabis and the Microbusiness Vision

SPEAKER_01 13:20

can learn from the Frostleafs because they are very awesome guys, they want to teach the rest of the groups, you know, how to do this, how they can do it. Yeah, and we're just sitting here absorbing it as well, you know, learning every day, man.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

Yeah. Jane Marshall's a a fun guy to learn from.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Yeah, yep.

SPEAKER_02 13:38

And and Thrive, they've got tons of experience in on the food side of things. Yes. Growing tomatoes and and lettuce and and horticulture lighting.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

You know?

SPEAKER_02 13:49

But what you're what you're really digging into is craft, craft cultivation, the ability to. That's what a micro is. Yeah, exactly. You know, so it it it's great to hear that CE and everyone involved in this project, for example, is is realizing what the intention of the OCM and the state was when developing that micro license, micro business license. Um where

Where Cultivation Projects Are Emerging

SPEAKER_02 14:20

are you seeing those pockets of grow um growers in Minnesota? Where are the where are they more densely populated? And it could be outside of Excel Energy territory, but you know, you're you're starting to see some patterns.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yeah. I would say the patterns we're seeing are outside the 494, 694 loop. Okay. And if you look at Excel territory, that's kind of how you can take a visual map and say, all right, anywhere around 494, 694 in the cities is Excel territory. However, you get 30 miles on the outside of that. So what we're seeing is on the outside of that, it's being accepted more freely, and that could be because there's a little bit more rural area. Um, so we're seeing a more Excel action and movement. However, it's still, you know, out in the sticks a little bit more, maybe out in an industrial warehouse. Um, because certain cultivators are in different spots. Some put

Why Rural Minnesota Is Seeing Early Growth

SPEAKER_01 15:30

their entire life savings into a micro and they need their first crop to come through. And they they they signed a lot of like, hey, you're taking my first two grows because I need I need the help up front right now. And with that money that I'll get, we can put in the carbon filtration system in our HVAC because right now it's super pungent out in the country, and you know, we we I need this to get to there to do this. And now you see the success from this particular cultivator, and he's like, I'm looking at another place in Minneapolis, it's a it's a great location, and now I can, you know, maybe look at cultivating something for the Minneapolis market. The key is, Steven, everybody we talk to is

Community-Based Cannabis Brands

SPEAKER_01 16:20

super passionate about their own product, but it's also they are cultivating for their community. We went to a guy up in just just by St. Cloud, and his main thing was we are only gonna put our product in St. Louis Park and the surrounding towns around here, and everybody is really proud of it because then they can come get my product from this area. And if they want my buddy's product, they will go to this area. You know, that's that's what the brewery scene was like. Yeah, you know, you want a surly furious, you go to Surlee. You know, you back in the day, now Surle's everywhere, right? So the thing is these guys are actually thinking the same way as, you know, maybe maybe I am from the utility standpoint. Like I hope it goes that way. You know, you see some of these cultivators, they're very protective of, you know, are you gonna give

Building Trust with Cultivators

SPEAKER_01 17:15

my information out? Or are we gonna lose this independence that we have or this influence that we have? We don't want you to come in and destroy our image. And it's like, I can see how you could feel that way, especially when you were cultivating in Colorado or California. But right now, we are your biggest supporters. Can a Connect is your biggest supporter to keep that individualism, you only having 18 lights in your building, and that's all you want to grow your kind bud and what you want to provide. Like, hey, we are on this journey with you. Yeah. And that guy shifted in that in that post-inspection. Then he became much more open to, hey, here's the stores, here's the name that it's gonna be, here's what we're doing. Do you think you can tell people about us? And it's like, that's what it's about. Wow, trust. Trust, you know. Um, so it's cool. It feels it feels like you know, we're impacting, we're helping, and we're not asking people for stuff. You know, so there are sales jobs out there where you have to, you know, get people to trust you and sell a certain product, and that's important. But we want people to realize like we're doing this, we have funds to give, and we want them to look at us as an ally, as a as a resource to help, and and it's starting to happen.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Well, and the last

Measuring Success Beyond Rebates

SPEAKER_02 18:40

time we sat down, Tony was on the show and we talked about that was a great show. Yeah, thank you. You were live, you were live at live at Open Window. Um and and we're recording this in May. Tony's episode will come out this month, and then your interview will come out in June. Sure. But one of the things that really stood out to me was you're not measuring this necessarily in the dollar return for the customer. I mean, sure, they're looking at it. Hey, I can get over $75,000 in lighting LED lighting rebates through CE, but your CE is looking at it like taking kilowatt hours off the grid. Yes. Taking energy off the grid. And it it stands out to me the mini data center analogy, mini being M I N I, but also like six six projects closed, twelve projects tentatively coming online, and and potentially twenty more after that. There are mini data centers popping up, and they're potentially popping up in similar areas. That's a lot of power in a local within

Cannabis Facilities as "Mini Data Centers"

SPEAKER_02 19:50

a a county, for example. Yes. And you know, you talked about the Builders Call line. The builders call line, and that's not a cannabis necessarily uh specific resource. That is a a call line for power at large. Is that power consumption?

SPEAKER_01 20:06

Is that county regional, or is there one builders call line that folks can there's one builder's call line for Excel territory, okay, but that's for anything in Excel, right? Um so yeah, I mean think about this in 32 projects that we have quoted, that's 51 homes of energy use that we've saved just by going to LED, by doing the energy efficient things that we ask for these grow projects and these customers are, and that's reoccurring every year, that just in that small window of projects, the savings is massive. You know, that's 6,000

Energy Savings, Sustainability & Grid Impact

SPEAKER_01 20:50

vehicles that we've the equivalent of 6,000 vehicles commuting every year. That's what we've taken off by providing higher PPEs, by using the builder's call line and finding locations where the power is ample for a data center to come in. Because right now, cultivators are also, you know, we don't talk about this much, but they're competing with with AI. Sure. You know, like you said, the the data centers. So the more transparent the cultivators can be with their vision, with their vision, exactly. The more transparent, the more we educate people um that they're competing and fighting, not just for like that building and what they need for power supply. It's it's everybody around them, too. And I think, you know, when we look at, you know, where they can find a property, I maybe that's maybe that's part of it. You know, a lot of people see the support in Minneapolis, St. Paul, but to find a building that can withstand all of those elements, you know, that's why we're probably seeing less in St. Paul and Minneapolis. Because we're still trying to figure out, you know, what places can can handle that load. And I think, yeah, I think, you know, this this year and next year we're gonna see a

Home Grow Rebates Explained

SPEAKER_01 22:10

lot more closer to us.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Um, but right now it's just kind of one of those things now the ball's rolling and other people are seeing success, and it's and I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Well, we want everyone who's watching this to trust that CE is a quality partner that they can work with and that they're thank you, uh a brand that is in support of what you're doing as a cultivator and not asking for your information to then go and sell it or provide it to who knows where. Like there's especially with the uh, and I know this is outside of CE, this is an XL Energy uh home rebate, but when folks first started finding about finding out about the home grow lighting cultivation rebate, they were weary of giving uh their plant count or their photos um of of their home grow to to anybody. Um, you know, we've got this nice sea vault here. This fits a half pound of of cannabis flour, and I gave one recently to David Luce, who is a champion of the homegrow lighting rebate, and uh it's a big proponent of the Minnesota cannabis industry, and and he's helped some of the folks that are a little weary to say, hey, this is this is okay. You can trust XL's not really doing anything with this. In fact, it's a guess and check method, they're not necessarily coming to your home and taking uh photos of your grow. It's it's uh did you buy the light? Are the lights up? Tell us more about the lighting opportunity. And and it, you know, I've heard from folks that they got even more, like that XL rounded up when it came to their lighting rebates. So um, yeah, I mean CE is here for the micro business in XL Energy Territory, but XL can also provide at-home home grow rebates, and I think that's awesome for the state of Minnesota.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Right. If we can have people make better, efficient

Helping Home Growers Get Started

SPEAKER_01 24:00

decisions up front, and that starts at home, right? These people are getting the confidence at home to start a business, yeah, you know, and cultivating. And I think that's smart to show um, hey, let's not go old school and do a high pressure sodium in your basement. Um let's let's let's make it capable and get you a rebate. And you know, we had a colleague um that works at C and doing this as well, a homegrow, and he didn't know, you know, he's in a different field, and you know, just telling them, hey, there's there's homegrow rebates for you, bud. And he he just about fell over when we told him that. So it's like we work in, you know, that's that's all that's a made-for-teen. Exactly, exactly. So now he feels um like he's got something to work off now a little bit more, and he he was actually pretty excited because he he's he put a lot of money into the wow the lighting system that he had, and he didn't know until we dove into it.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

It's kind of funny. I popped a couple seeds uh over the weekend and they've started to sprout. And my hope is I can take them outside and do some outdoor cannabis plants this summer, uh, which is great. You know, no no kilowatt hours needed. Right. You know, that thing

Minnesota vs. Wisconsin Cannabis Markets

SPEAKER_02 25:20

is just straight sun booming. Um one thing I wanted to touch, uh talk about we can get back on track, but a little bit, I'm I'm curious. You know, you you live on the other side of the border in Wisconsin. Do you hear much about cannabis projects or cannabis legalization like in your community? Do people are people talking about it? Because your neighbors just over the river are are are putting up cultivation sites, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

Um I can tell you right now, Wisconsin's quite a ways away. Uh talking to uh quite a few business owners in Minnesota, just kind of getting a feel, just having conversations because of what we do in Minnesota is the Tavern League in Wisconsin does not want that yet. Um even though that Wisconsin is adding some THC seltzers onto their taps or as a secondary option, yeah. You know, the the the bars that can handle the insurance for it, uh they're paying a little bit more, but they see that you know, trends are changing. College towns, kids aren't going out to the bars like they used to.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

And there's so many college towns in Wisconsin. So many. Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

So many. So these are the guys, the liquor stores that I'm talking to, the owners from Stout, where I went to school, talked to a guy that owns a liquor store there. You know, the the I guess the Tavern League meetings are getting pretty heated all the time. And you know, Wisconsin, it's it's strange because you see all the work they do with the hemp that comes from there. Right. So they're they're providing a lot of the Delta 9 hemp that goes into Minnesota, into Maryland, right? All these other locations. Yeah. So it's it's really bizarre how they play a part in it, but they want nothing to do with it. Okay. So it's a good question. I mean, I bring it up just to see if someday I'll have a different answer.

SPEAKER_02 27:16

Yeah, no, I appreciate the pulse. Yeah, I think I think folks I think folks do have to remember that the Tavern League has quite a quite a bit of sway in Wisconsin. Big influence. And I mean the Tavern League is just another word for beer or uh and alcohol or you know, supper clubs and and what you order from the supper clubs, like an old-fashioned or something like that. That's correct. Um so you know, kudos to the progressiveness of Minnesota for you know pushing legalization through. But the other thing I want to talk about is CE can do more than cultivation sites. They're able to provide LED lighting rebates for stores. Yes. And there's a lot of stores opening up, hundreds by the time this episode comes out. So

Industry Education and Market Growth

SPEAKER_02 28:00

does that come across your desk as well when it when it comes to the more traditional retail?

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Great question. And to be honest with you, we should probably be doing a better job with that segment. Um, because that's truly where we where our program started from, like commercial lighting. And what we're seeing too is some some of these cultivators will have a dispensary connected to their their grow house in the back. Or, you know, a uh cannabis lounge is is next to that dispensary, next to the so, yes, every every commercial building in Excel territory could get a rebate, whether that's HVAC, lighting, anything. And what we can do is is go in and get whatever it looked like beforehand, take the lighting count and say, all right, make this your own. You know, if you're gonna have lighting that changes the mood, well, that's fine. Let's retrofit and get you the savings, you know, lower your utility bill because it's already gonna be high, right? From from your cultivation. So if we can take a commercial bus business, excuse me, and change out some of their lighting, maybe help them with their case lighting, you know, even if it's not a huge project, the dollars and cents add up. Right, right. And with a commercial lighting job, we can go up to 75% uh of the project cost for a rebate. And the thing that Minnesotans need to understand also that they may not know is there's a fluorescent ban. Okay, and the fluorescent ban has been in place now for two years, and it actually uh took over this year. So you cannot buy online or in a store a fluorescent tube or light. Wow, no more incandescent screw-ins. So everything is LED. So while rebates are as

Looking Ahead to Minnesota's Next Phase

SPEAKER_01 30:00

high as they are, and the cost of LED is as low as it is, right now is the best time to convert to LED in a commercial business. Now, the reason I say that is because next year, let's just say the utilities see LED being the baseline now because you can't buy fluorescent. So why would we say you're replacing old technology, now it's new technology? Well, that would mean hypothetically that the rebates would basically go down because now LED is our baseline. If that's the case, now customers aren't going to get as much money as they could now. Now's the time. Now's the time. I don't like putting the pressure. I mean, we're consultants, we work for a nonprofit, but I do want to tell people if you're even thinking about it, now is the time because we have the most money we can possibly give to do these projects. Great. So yeah, good question.

SPEAKER_02 30:52

Yeah, I'm thinking about just how we continue to tell the CE story throughout 2026. And we're gonna be sitting down together. Actually, we'll be positioned right next to each other at Canacon. That's beautiful. So I'd love to have you and Tony come back uh or just slide over from your booth um June 26th and 27th. And, you know, we're just continuing to kind of have mile markers along the way as more folks get turned on to CE and are able to open up their cultivations. I like it. Awesome, Brad. Thanks for coming on the show. We'll make sure to include uh your email and where they can find more information about CEE. And

Final Thoughts & Resources

SPEAKER_02 31:30

if you are still new to CE, check it out online. These guys are legit. They're here to serve you in the XL Energy and Mini Minneapolis, St. Paul area. So thanks for CE being a great partner on the show. And Brad, it was great to see you. Thank you, bud. Good to see you. See you next time on the Canon Connect Show.