In 2017, the total amount of energy used for U.S. legal cannabis cultivation was 1.1 billion kilowatts (kWh).
In 2015, the total amount of energy used by U.S. Starbucks locations was 1.75 billion kWh.
In 2016, the total amount of energy used by U.S. McDonald’s restaurants was 2.3 billion kWh.
In 2017, the total amount of energy used for all the U.S. Google searches was 2.3 billion kWh, i.e., enough power to run approximately 200,000 homes for a year.
As single corporate entities, each Google (2.16x), McDonald’s (2.16x), and Starbucks (1.64x) used more energy than did U.S. legal cannabis as an entire industry.
