Original story

SatWebTicker 11.2.2014

Demand for LEPs exceeds supply - electronurseries warn of price hikes

The global demand for LEPs - light-emitting plants - is so great that nurseries are unable to keep up. As a result, prices for LEPs have almost doubled in less than two months.

Individuals, companies, and organizations are so desperate to place light-emitting plants in their yards and garden areas that in several US states we have even seen the emergence of LEP exchanges, where prices are fixed daily much as shares on the Dow-Nikkei Index.

The wild rush to get horticulturally lit up all stems from the discovery by the Athens-based Luciferase Corporation that it was possible to combine the genes of various plants and certain bacteria that have bioluminescent properties. The result was a patent for plants that glow in the dark and create dramatically beautiful effects. The assortment of light-emitting plants now runs from small shrubs and grasses all the way to large deciduous trees and conifers.

The light-emitting forest growing near the site of the Luciferase Corporation’s research laboratories has become a popular tourist attraction for Greeks and foreigners alike. Busloads of visitors pour into the woods every evening to gaze at the modern equivalent of a romantic enchanted forest.

Even though demand for LEPs is running high, the Greek company has been very tight about granting production licences to other plant nurseries. The Luciferase CEO Mikis Alexandridis commented at yesterday’s press briefing that the company would attempt to ease the situation by granting a few new licences in the near future. The company is nevertheless eager to keep production at a relatively low level, in order that the LEPs will retain their present luxury goods status. There are also fears that if there were more opportunities to steal plants from outside growers, then illegal cloning and copying of the designs would soon follow.

The Luciferase Corporation has also guaranteed that the LEPs will not lose their market value by ensuring that the plants cannot reproduce, and even the cloning process has been made more difficult by certain genetic processes. Thus when the plant dies, the owner is obliged to buy a new one from Luciferase or one of its licensees.

Care of the LEPs does not come cheap, either, as the bioluminescence requires the combining of certain chemicals - basically the oxidization of luciferin - and hence demands an unusually energy-rich soil for the plant to flourish. The Luciferase Corporation and its licence-holders therefore offer plant-owners a special fertilizer compound, meaning the company collects both ways. Nature conservation organizations and NADA (the Natural Development Association) have expressed concerns that some of the chemicals in the fertilizer are not naturally occurring in soil, and their environmental effects have not been sufficiently well documented.

In addition to the Luciferase Forest of Light in Greece, there are other impressive LEP parks in Copenhagen, Denmark, and close to the Swiss capital, Bern. The first such exhibit in the United States was in Central Park, NYC, at the Tavern On The Green restaurant, and now the two largest displays are at Disneyland in California, and at the Elvis ThemePark just outside Memphis. Other large collections of LEPs can be seen in Shanghai and Nanking, in the Mongolian capital Ulan Bator, and in Osaka, Japan.

Toteuma-arvio 2026

Toteuma lyhyesti

  • Ilmiön toteuma: 3/5
  • Toteuma viiden vuoden tarkkuudella: kyllä; arviointi-ikkuna on 2009–2019
  • Toteuma väljemmällä aikahorisontilla: kyllä, mutta rajatusti
  • Ilmiön ydin: geenimuunneltu kasvi tuottaa omaa näkyvää valoa ja sitä käytetään koristeena tai valaistuksen osana.

Bioluminesoivia kasveja on kehitetty ja myöhemmin myyty kuluttajille, joten biologinen periaate toteutui. Valo on kuitenkin himmeää, kasvit ovat erikoistuotteita eivätkä korvaa pihavalaistusta.

Johtopäätös: ennuste toteutui teknisesti oikeassa aikaikkunassa mutta ei ennakoidussa mittakaavassa.