PlantCO2 is a technical partner that provides cultivators with CO2 enrichment solutions to maximize their yields. David Goodnack, an engineer with an indoor agriculture background founded PlantCO2 while frustrated by traditional food and beverage CO2 suppliers that lacked cultivation knowledge or cultivation specific solutions. For facility owners and cultivators, PlantCO2 is the technical partner that brings innovation and cultivation knowledge to the CO2 space.
When it comes to cultivation facilities, the need to implement CO2 is an essential component for growth and development of overall crops. Enhanced CO2 levels can significantly impact plant yields by 30%. At PlantCO2, they are changing the game in the indoor grow space by providing full turn-key solutions specific to cultivation needs including stamped MEP drawings, enrichment manifolds, CO2 safety equipment, bulk CO2 tanks, and CO2 supply contracts. Customers start by receiving free CO2 usage estimates, tank sizing, and enrichment / life safety design.
While there are many others working in the indoor cultivation space, few are offering such turn-key solutions and truly making a recognized name for themselves like David at PlantCO2. By challenging industry norms and providing turnkey CO2 solutions, they are able to develop cultivation facilities from design to production. This is particularly relevant for indoor cultivation, where urban farmers continue to search for innovators in the space to help them maximize yields.
The team at CO2Meter has been fortunate to forge great partnerships like that with PlantCO2, who utilize our industrial multi gas safety systems for their life safety design. This helps growers stay protected from elevated gas concentrations and safeguard themselves should a potential leak ever occur. By installing CO2 safety systems in their facilities, growers can continuously monitor CO2 with alerts at pre-set elevated levels. These systems can also trigger third party control panels or send an alert to the fire department in the event of a leak to meet local fire code compliance.
We recently interviewed David Goodnack, CEO at PlantCO2, to discuss the importance of our partnership and how their experience has been with using our carbon dioxide safety solutions in the field.
About PlantCO2
CO2Meter: Tell us a little bit about your company and how you got started?
David: “I worked for the past 5 years selling automation and environmental controls equipment in the cannabis and leafy green space. I noticed that cultivators continuously asked for referrals for CO2 equipment. Unlike other categories like lights and HVAC I didn’t have any great options for my customers. Months later I left my job to start PlantCO2.com knowing that I could offer the industry a better solution. PlantCO2.com now offers free CO2 design, CO2 usage calculations, Bulk CO2 tank sizing and CO2 equipment. Using these tools, I help cultivators create a solution for their facility that maximize yields while keeping their employees safe and fire code compliant. Customers no longer need to utilize multiple vendors to source equipment to then have to figure out how it can all work together.”
CO2Meter: Tell us about your fields specialty areas?
David: “At PlantCO2, our specialty areas include engineering, cultivation environments, CO2 enrichment, CO2 life safety, and overall creating a complete package and experience for our customers."
CO2Meter: What are you trying to solve by using our products?
David: “CO2Meter.com provides a simple, easy to use, and easy to understand system. Life safety is a critical component when enriching environments with CO2. CO2Meter.com is the foundation of my solution that I build upon to provide a complete commercial solution to cultivators. By building my solution starting with great partners, I have technical resources, great customer service, and a very reliable product. The MSC-2 units are used to sense elevated CO2 levels, alarm, isolate CO2 sources, and trigger exhaust fans for my customers."
CO2Meter: How has monitoring the CO2 in your space (or your customers) affected the crops?
David: ““PlantCO2.com is using CO2Meter.com for life safety monitoring. Without CO2Meter.com products in place the customers would not be able to enrich their spaces with CO2. The CO2 enrichment can increase plant growth by 30% and their safety monitors help ensure they are protected from higher-than-normal thresholds."
CO2Meter: Tell us about the device(s) you chose specifically and any main features you feel are most valuable?
David: “The RAD-0102-6 is the workhorse of our solution as it provides a reliable simple to use system that can be applied to each cultivation room. The MSC2 system is when we have challenging facilities that need a customizable solution. PlantCO2 integrates to safety isolation valves, exhaust purge systems, and cultivation systems using the relays on the MSC2.
CO2Meter: Why did you choose CO2Meter as a solutions provider, and utilize them for your business?
David: “CO2Meter.com has a very straight forward package (MSC2 Industrial Fixed Systems) specifically. Customers understand how to set this up and I get very few support calls to assist in setup. If I went with another manufacturer, I would likely have a lot more support involved with the product."
CO2Meter: When looking at overall documentation and/or resources, what did you find the most helpful?
David: “Josh Pringle is an Allstar! The product resources like the wiring diagram and FAQ's were very helpful. The manual was fairly straightforward as well."
CO2Meter: What, if any, recommendations would you have for us to improve our devices for your industry?
David: "I'd like to see some modifications to allow the equipment to be hardwired. In commercial grow environments no one wants to plug something into a wall outlet. Installers are also expecting to be able to run conduit to the device and teh equipment it's controlling."
CO2Meter: Can you tell us briefly about your overall experience in using CO2Meter gas detection solutions?
David Goodnack: "So far CO2Meter.com has excellent customer service and has helped me design initial solutions for customers. CO2Meter.com continues to support me to be successful with the solutions I provide to my customers."
"PlantCO2.com trusts CO2Meter.com in all of our solutions for commercial cultivation facilities. CO2Meter.com is aligned with PlantCO2.com with respect to supporting their customers, product reliability, and great experiences every time."
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While there are many types of cultivation specialists in the indoor agriculture space providing CO2 solutions, PlantCO2 is at the forefront of this evolving field and David Goodnack is committed to providing quality solutions at full-scale for his customer base.
We're proud to help them achieve customer safety and aid in continuing to grow their business.