The Power of Science Illuminating the World
(Original)

Heidi Baumgartner
(Age 16, USA)
Hunter College High School

Only twenty hours after I took off from JFK airport in New York, I was behind the barbed wire fence of a hotel in Liberia in total darkness and stifling heat. The electrical generator had stopped working. It was an unreliable substitute for the power grid that had been destroyed during the 14-year-long civil war. On the street, trucks spewed thick black smoke that choked the air. I held my breath and hoped that no one would use the darkness as a cover for crime. During the following two weeks, as I helped conduct high school science workshops for Liberian students, I witnessed a broad range of problems afflicting the West African failed state. And in that time, I made the decision to devote my future career as a scientist to solving them.

Liberia’s problems are by no means unique. About one third of the Earth’s population has no access to electricity, and for many more people electric power remains an unaffordable luxury. Every year the poor spend the equivalent of over $35 billion in kerosene lighting and disposable batteries—a large portion of development aid that should be used more productively. Many have limited access to fuel, and the consequent foraging for firewood causes deforestation and destruction of the environment. Without access to cheap energy, developing countries will not implement modern agricultural, manufacturing, information, and communication capabilities, thereby trapping themselves in economic stagnation. It is also undisputed that without reliable renewable energy sources to replace rapidly disappearing combustible fuels, the future of all human kind is jeopardized.

Just as scientists have time and again solved many of humanity’s problems, for example by mitigating famine and disease that plague third-world nations, they now must solve the world’s next biggest problem. They face the task of developing clean, renewable sources of energy that will terminate our dependence on fossil fuels and ensure the stability of our planet’s climate. Their development of an inexpensive alternative energy source can assure the prosperity of the poorest countries. This is possible by harnessing the power of nature, and in particular, the radiance of the Sun.

Methods of converting light energy into electricity are already known, but present solar technology does not yet constitute a viable replacement for other means of electricity production. The present limitation on the effectiveness of solar panels is the insensitivity that silicon in solar cells has towards a large part of the light spectrum. However, there exist other kinds of crystals that function like silicon, which are sensitive to a far larger range of wavelengths of light. These crystals are known as quantum dots, because they are so tiny that they are governed by quantum mechanics, the type of physics that reigns at small scales. A compilation of these crystals embedded in plastic can form a solar cell whose efficiency exceeds 90%. The sun shines everywhere, and a solar cell produces no greenhouse gases.

Quantum dot solar materials are on the brink of commercial viability; they are not a futuristic fantasy. Once this technology is implemented, it will change the world. Clean, cheap, and sustainable solar power will vastly improve the quality of life for people in the most remote areas of the globe. It will boost every person’s production capability and stimulate even the poorest economies. Cheap electricity will power pumps that access water deep underground in areas with drought, and light lamps that keep streets safe at night. With quantum dot solar panels, even the most remote village will power computers that bring it the vast databases of knowledge of the internet. Individuals will be empowered like they never have been before, and as the shackles of the power grid are broken, the only limit to learning and innovation will be the human mind.