If Obama Wants Green Jobs, Why is Konarka’s Solar Technology Being Commercialized in Japan??!!
Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
Imagine a world in which ordinary things that people buy every day – including clothing, household furnishings and office equipment – were coated with a super-thin film that turned everything into a mini solar power plant that could collect even the light from an overhead light bulb and convert it into usable electricity.
Think how much energy a home, office and factory would be able to generate itself. Think how much less dependent on fossil-fuel power plants the world might be. Think how much less carbon dioxide might be generated and, thus, how much less it might cost to reduce global carbon emissions under a cap-and-trade system.
This is the promise of solar technology being developed by Konarka Technologies, a privately-held company based in the good old USA. Lowell, MA-based Konarka’s thin-film solar cell is exactly the kind of new green technology that could create those millions of new green jobs President Obama is always talking about. Even better, it could revitalize any number of U.S. manufacturing industries, from clothing to household furnishings to office equipment.
Konarka’s revolutionary technology, however, isn’t being commercialized by another U.S. firm but by a Japanese firm, Toppan Forms Co., which trades on the Tokyo exchange. It is Toppan that recently announced that by 2010 it is going to commercialize power generating organic film in clothing, window shades and curtains, handbooks and more. Thus it is Japan, not the U.S., that’s in the lead to create this potential game-changing industry (and all the jobs in all the affected industries that will go with it) using technology “made in the USA.”
The Konarka situation is yet another example of how the rest of the world, led by Japan and Europe, is so far ahead on commercializing green technology that it’s likely going to be foreign companies that dictate how many green jobs are created in the U.S.
Indeed, when it comes to wind power, the new jobs will be parceled out globally by European-based wind turbine manufacturers. When it comes to next-generation hybrid vehicles, Japan, South Korea and maybe China are positioned to call the shots on jobs.
Still, it’s not too late for America to stake a claim to millions of new green jobs. But in order for America to take back control of its own green destiny, Washington urgently needs to analyze every promising homegrown technology from the point of view of the total number of jobs that might be created throughout the economy, and then prime the pump of commercialization here at home. That’s certainly a better use of government money than the billions Washington is about to spend determining whether carbon dioxide gas can be stored underground, a technology that won’t create many jobs and may never make commercial sense because it costs so much.
To be sure, Toppan isn’t the only company working on commercializing Konarka’s technology. The company told EnergyTechStocks.com late last week that it has other partners, including in the U.S., that will be announcing products based on its technology this year and next.
Another company that appears to be far along in commercializing Konarka’s technology is SKYShades, which you might think is a U.S. firm because of the company’s emphasis on its Florida operations in its Konarka-related press releases.
But look closer and you’ll see that SKYShades is an Australian-based company.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
I understand your concern and perhaps Konarka is a good company to invest in, but you will make a far greater impact in the future if you go the next level as a writer.
First of all, what makes Konarka so great? I am not making any judgement either way, which is actually my point: After reading your article, I don’t have the sufficient facts to support your belief in this company. As a writer, you need to do the homework for your readers so that we can understand and support your belief that this is a viable company. (In fact, if more people like you can present a strong argument for this company, then that will go a long way in creating an envirnment for investors to keep the company American owned - something that I’m sure a lot of people - including myself - would like to see)
Second, and most importantly: What do you expect from President Obama? Obama has no control over whether or not Japanese or American investors get behind an American company. He can only provide this vision for the Green Energy sector (which he has done) and seek the support for legislation that creates an environment for those goals to be achieved (which he has also done).
It is extremely misleading - and erroneous - to have titled your article as you did. (It almost sounds like the whinings of a young child who expects far too much from his parents. A much more appropriate title would be “If Americans want Green Jobs…why is Konarka’s Solar…” This is still an eye-catching title and it’s placing the onus on the people who you have a gripe with: The American People).
I don’t mean to offend you, I am just trying to make the point that I may very well agree with your sentiments (that Konarka is a solid company that should be supported by Americans), but there is some additional work that you need to do in order to achieve that goal.