Konarka and Power Plastic

For many years scientists have recognized that that human civilization is doomed to fail to maintain their standard of living unless they can hatch a master research and development program. This destined failure I am referring to happens to be the world’s addiction to fossil fuel. Unfortunately a small organization you may have heard of, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), controls much of what the entire planet needs to live: oil. I use oil to heat my house; I use it to get to work every morning; I use it to fly on vacations; and sometimes I throw a little in my hair when I have had a bad day. The bottom line is I am not the only one building my whole life off this substance that has a finite lifespan. On top of this, I happen to believe that the people at the Nobel Prize committee were justified in giving Al Gore and his team of scientists the honor of the prize for their work in reducing the carbon imprints in the world and slowing down this global warming phenomenon. Luckily, a startup company named after a temple dedicated to a Hindu sun god (Konarka) has come to be the Messiah of the modern world with the development of power plastic.

Power plastic utilizes light to create energy. This technology has been around for quite some time, but there has never been enough research and development to make it worthwhile and profitable for anyone to invest in it. The beauty of power plastic is that it removes all of the drawbacks of solar energy that were in the way before: Huge immovable objects that are aesthetically unattractive as well as extremely expensive and some consider a relatively bad investment. On top of looking weird and taking twenty years to pay for itself, the old solar technology was extremely delicate and had only one real use in heating an immovable object (generally a house). Power plastic is completely the opposite: it is lightweight, portable, flexible, durable, and even water resistant. The prices have not been release, but experts are saying the fact that power plastic has reached 6% light efficiency means that their technological leaps will allow them to be a major contributor in the energy market. Power plastic has the potential to be put in fabric and charge your laptop in your book bag, maybe even put it in a shirt so that you can charge your phone while it’s in your pocket. This is extremely important because it gives the average person like you or me a chance to help save the environment by eliminating our carbon footprint, while not investing the huge amounts of capital it once required to buy solar. Further, book bags are going to be bought either way, so why not have the added feature of ability to charge your bag in the sun. However, Konarka is not stopping with providing the average person with these capabilities; they are also working on putting this technology on skyscrapers windows so that they can power the entire building. These capabilities are just the start of the good things this company can do for us.

Any way to diminish our addiction to oil could reduce OPEC’s choking grip around the entire world. Over the past thirty years OPEC has completely manipulated the price of oil in American, so much so that it may have caused our current auto crisis in Detroit. What I mean by this is the volatility of the price of gas because of the controlled oil output. The first time we tried to use solar technology was the early 80’s when gas prices soared in relation to previous prices. When OPEC realized there were other capabilities to knock off their monopoly, they dropped prices. Americans forgot about the scare because they didn’t realize how tight OPEC’s control really was. Thus, we started returning to our gas guzzling form: bigger houses and bigger cars. In the early 90’s OPEC struck again, and soon after Americans forgot the grip once more. This time we didn’t just make gas guzzling cars and create bigger houses, we fed into this truck and SUV frenzy. This past summer when OPEC raised the price of a barrel of oil over $200 we finally realized the problem. Our consumer’s stopped buying SUV’s and trucks altogether, but because this was all Americans used to want, the companies were not prepared with anything else. Thus we are here in the crisis we are today. Given this crisis is far more complicated than the auto industry, we cannot allow the American short term memory on oil prices lead us on this path of destruction led by those who control oil. This is the bottom line reason that will resonate with consumers: it will be a good investment because it will put money in your pocket. However, Konarka can still give more to the community at large.

In addition competing with oil prices, provided we can keep this technology profiting the country, it could easily open up hundreds of thousands of jobs in the new green sector that is currently growing larger with each passing day. If the technology does catch on, millions of chips will need to be distributed across the country. Even if the technology is complete, the company will continue to pour cash into research and development employing countless engineers and scientists. Who knows how many jobs it can create, and everyone knows we need them now more than ever with the state of the economy. Further, we could help save the world from this global warming phenomenon that seems to be only recognized in the mind of scientists and liberal democrats (Al Gore and Barrack Obama). By starting to do simple things like use clean energy to charge phones and laptops, we are reducing the amount of energy created by other non-clean meathods. This ultimately helps the environment. Hopefully as the idea catches on entire skyscrapers will be eliminating carbon emissions and this could make a difference fast.

I guess the only argument that could be made against a company like this is the timeline of change. Cars produce the most carbon emissions, how long is it going to take to make a difference with our cell phones and laptops. In addition, if we were to start integrating this technology in our cars, would everyone in the United States have to buy a new car? To these people I say you are missing the point. This technology is in its infancy and that alone is extremely important. The book bags and plastic cases have not yet hit the market, but the technology is accelerating rapidly. Soon we will be able to help on a grand scale.

Soon may not be soon enough, but when someone asks me what type of technology I think will be most important in the future, I don’t hesitate when I say the one that is going to save the world: green energy, power plastic, and renewable resources. On day I will be telling my grandchildren what it was like to live in a world smog filled because of cars, just as my grandfather tells me of the time before cars were mainstream. Times are changing and I hope the country isn’t stubborn enough to ignore it. Until we are there sit back and enjoy the path we are treading and admire the changes that soon will be taken for granted.