“We’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”
Presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton has reiterated this message numerous times this election cycle when speaking on her energy policy.
This “war” on natural gas, coal, and just about every legitimate resource used, has been ongoing and has cost thousands of jobs. The Environmental Protection Agency has increased their regulations greatly, most notably with President Obama’s March 2015 executive order, which aims to double solar energy production by the year 2030.
Why throw out all innovation from fracking, coal mining, etc. and funnel billions of federal dollars into the alternative energy sector — when we could attempt to make the more prevalent methods more efficient?
Awhile back, a good friend of mine, Michael Avale-Koryzna, developed a technology, which had the ability to take non-decomposing waste and turn it into a powder, which acts a concrete substitute, or additive. This technology could potentially help to harness much of the waste found in our landfills. However, upon further investigation, he was able to take some of the same principles and concepts and apply it to coal, in order to make coal more efficient and reduce the emissions.
I decided to sit down with him and discuss what these findings mean, and how it is that an average high school student has been able to harness a technological innovation to a problem that seemingly nobody else has been able to solve. How could such a complex system be developed by an individual with no previous experience in the field?
“I grew up all across the world in a lot of different situations,” Avale-Koryzna explained. “I lived in India, Germany, Israel, but what stuck with me the most was living and seeing the slums of India. Waste and pollution were everywhere; I have never seen anything come close to how it was there. Ever since that experience I have had those images in the back of my mind. In chemistry class this idea came to my mind, I tried it out, almost died, at least almost passed out from the smoke produced, but my idea actually was effective.”
Knowing Michael, I understand his sincerity and ambition to fix problems when he sees them. Last year, he created another startup, Makora Cosmetics, which was created as a cost effective solution to fix his father’s psoriasis problem. The lotion that he developed has helped hundreds of individuals across the Chicago area.
His biggest issue with starting these businesses? Government regulation.
“The reason why I have not been able to fully launch Fintercon (his energy company) is because of the costs associated with the government regulations and testing,” he said. “We are looking at thousands of dollars for a patent and tens of thousands of dollars at least for the EPA testing. With Makora I faced much of the same problems, as well with all the complex paperwork and processes required in order to sell a skin care product in stores.”
Despite these difficulties, this election cycle has only driven Avale-Koryzna to continue creating. He speaks of his frustration when hearing of Hillary Clinton’s “war on coal” and Republicans’ reluctance to combat environmental issues. “We only have one earth, we need to protect it. But clearly, the government has not helped. What we need is private sector solutions, that is the only way we are going to combat global warming. I will make coal efficient enough to help protect the environment, and Hillary’s war on coal will be over.”
Although I may be partial, the fact that a teenager is able to comprehend the complexities of these systems is incredible. Imagine what could happen if competition was more easily fulfilled, especially in the energy industry. Red tape makes entrepreneurship near impossible, yet despite these issues, Americans have been working every day to move past these difficulties and develop their own solutions.
