Eco-Friendly LED Pot

I've been slowly converting the light bulbs in my house to LEDs. Slowly because LEDs are expensive - REALLY expensive - and because sometimes they don't give enough light for my purposes. I think LEDs are the way to go for the sustainable future instead of poisonous and awful compact flourescents, which I predict will become the 8-track tapes of the lighting world. Let's hope.
   Today as I was surfing the web looking for what's on the cutting edge of LED technology (you can't rely on Lowe's to lead innovation), I saw an application that had never crossed my mind.
   Grow lights. Indoor grow lights.
   I know, I know there are legitimate uses for indoor grow lights. Like... uh... well, I'm sure there are some. But I know and you know and everybody in the country knows the real use for indoor grow lights is pot farming.
   I had an Indian friend* who bought a house years ago. It was a bank repo long before that was common, and he got a fantastic deal on it, mostly because the previous owner defaulted after some legal problems. Criminal legal problems.
   My friend had me over to his new castle and showed me around. It was an older house in Pasadena and so didn't have AC. Except, he pronounced, in the attic which was colder than penguin turds. When he and his wife wanted AC they just pulled down the step ladder and let the cool air waft over them.
   He showed me into the attic, which was indeed painted perfectly, finished out, with a great-big AC unit in one end. There were also electrical outlets every 18 inches on-center, and a hook above a weathered circle in the finished attic floor between each and every rafter for the length of the house, both sides.
   "You know what this used to be, don't you?" I asked him. Blank stare back. "Pot farm."
   He didn't believe me. At first. But as he looked I saw the realization dawn in his eyes; the guy before had one marijuana plant between every set of rafters, a huge grow light hanging from the hook above each plant, a pan to catch the water below, and Arctic air conditioning to keep his stash from wilting in the heat. Pretty slick setup except for managing the heat from all those grow lights.
   Fast forward to today and the modern, eco-minded pot farmer. If you used LED grow lights you wouldn't have any of the temperature control problems you have with regular grow lights. And no heat would mean your pot farm wouldn't be betrayed to infrared sensors on police helicopters. PLUS you'd be saving electricity which means more profit for your illegal operation. Win-win-win all around. Of course, you'd have to not be totally baked all the time to have your wits about you enough to make this a reality. It could happen.
   Like everything else, I'll bet vice drives innovation in the LED lighting market too.


* Slurpee Indian, not casino Indian