Seventh grader Aidan Dwyer was walking in the woods during the winter, and looking up, he noticed something about the bare branches above him. They didn’t appear to be growing randomly. So he took some measurements of the angles of the branches, crunched some numbers, and wouldn’t you know it, he found that the ubiquitous Fibonacci Sequence was behind it all. He suspected there was a reason behind this. That trees were using this pattern to gather more light.
So he did an experiment. Using the same number of solar cells, he built two working models. One was a traditional, flat array will all of the panels on a single plane. The other used the Fibonacci Sequence to create the same spiraled pattern he observed in the trees. The results? The little man himself reports:
The tree design made 20% more electricity and collected 2 1/2 more hours of sunlight during the day. But the most interesting results were in December, when the Sun was at its lowest point in the sky. The tree design made 50% more electricity, and the collection time of sunlight was up to 50% longer!”
Did you hear that? All of the smart guys in the country who spent their time trying to make solar power more efficient were just outsmarted by a 13-year-old and a tree. You can read Aiden’s extremely well-written full-report here. Aiden just won the Young Naturalist Award from the American Museum of Natural History. It’s kids like this that make me think that just maaaaaybe the US isn’t so screwed after all. [American Museum of Natural History via Inhabitat]
The Joker
August 20, 2011 at 2:40 PMHe should patent the arrangement so at the very least he might get some money to get a first rate education so humanity continues to benefit from his brilliance. Well done Aidan. Awesome work.
Steve
August 20, 2011 at 8:46 PMDon’t want to rain on anyone’s parade here, but this article suggests that scientists are a bunch of doddering fools who use flat panels for the hell of it.
We use them because they’re convenient and can fit within the confines of an urban environment, not because they’re the most efficient. Hell. They don’t even follow the path of the sun during the day.
Indeed, the most efficient form of geometric solar-energy collection we have (Solar Thermal Collection) uses reflectors that align the beam to a focus, and follows a parabolic ‘dish’. This is an order of magnitude more efficient than the ‘tree’ design. And with the ‘conventional’ flat panel, both are far more practical.
You lost today, kid. But that doesn’t mean you have to like it.
Brendan
August 20, 2011 at 10:09 PMRight, because trees don’t fit in the urban landscape. I know I just love looking at bare concrete!
Steve
August 21, 2011 at 7:18 PMI’m curious where you think these solar-charging trees can fit into a modern urban landscape without displacing existing real trees.
Conventional solar panels are popular because they’re occupying previously unused real estate. Something you can’t say for this.
Merlyn
August 23, 2011 at 3:08 PMOh Steve,
Are you getting angry that a thirteen year old kid is getting all your credit? Tsk Tsk I think he’s observed something and followed it up with a supportive argument.
Looking at nature he’s managed to figure out better efficiency. Why are you burning him? It kind of reminds me of the astute observations that made things like fractal geometry possible.
Nothing worse than a sour puss scientist.
Sven
August 21, 2011 at 4:45 PMToo true, but can you imagine if someone took the idea of the tree array and used it in urban or city planning as sculptural feature AND power generation method? A street or pathway flanked by alternating trees and solar trees. That would be pretty damn cool and probably much more pleasant on the eyes if done well than most sculptures that get put up for arts sake.
Also nice work with the Indy quote *thumbs up*
Puck Prospero
August 20, 2011 at 3:45 PMOnce again humanity follows in the wake of evolution…
Prashi
August 20, 2011 at 5:31 PMFirst I would like to congratulate the boy on his findings, second I would like to say how disgusting it was of you (Brent Rose) that you started smoking at the age of 13 FROM CIGARETTES FOUND ON THE GROUND.
Prashi
August 20, 2011 at 5:32 PMAlso, this boy sounds smarter than I will ever be (I am in my 20s).
Sean
August 20, 2011 at 6:19 PMHe’s a smart kid, but if you look at his model you’ll see that it has more cells than his flat panel. So what he has found is that a tree inspired model collects efficiently over a wider range of angles and is more tolerant of shading, not that it makes more power for the same silicon.
P.S. he can’t patent the idea, he’s already made it publicly available.
Brenton
August 20, 2011 at 7:10 PMNot everyone is like Apple and want to patent things that are already available, common place or naturally occurring.
Paul
August 21, 2011 at 10:11 AMNo. The point is, he can’t patent it. Though I’m sure he and his parents will try. But it’s true, it does nothing ‘different’ other than collect sunlight at a range of angles, not really sure what the big deal is here.
james
August 21, 2011 at 5:07 PMReally? I counted 20 on the flat panels (you can see 10 on the visible side of the arched “roof”, so I assume it contains the same number on the other side). It’s hard to count the exact number in the tree, but I could only count 18.
Paul
August 21, 2011 at 10:12 AMSorry, placing cells at odd angles doesn’t a genius make. Here is the real future of solar cells: http://www.theage.com.au/national/super-slim-solar-cell-a-success-20110811-1iot3.html
John Healey
August 22, 2011 at 3:56 PMTo Paul (Aug 21) keep in mind that the University are very good at promoting themselves. Will these “new” panels ever be available commercially? That’s the real question.
John H
MotorMouth
August 21, 2011 at 11:54 AMI’m reasonably sure I saw a photo of a tree-sized array a few years ago, very similar to this, in a town square in Europe. Still, it’s incredible to see a 13 year-old apply himself to working this all out for himself. It does make the rest of our childhoods seem a tad superficial.
chris
August 21, 2011 at 9:48 PMI thought that was pretty cool, until I saw what the french have.
http://www.electree.fr/vivien.muller/home.html
Wade Hextell
August 22, 2011 at 8:43 AMYou don’t have to be a genius to see that the Fibonacci Sequence ocurs in nature; its actually stated on the Wiki page. In any case, its a very bright idea for this kid to apply it to solar panels. I am surprised this was not discovered when solar panels were invented though.
TSH
August 22, 2011 at 10:58 AMNice work, kid!
I don’t think it matters that the kid’s ideas have been discovered before, nor that they still don’t address the practical issues of solar cell deployment. What matters is that he actively put his ingenuity to work instead of spending that time on his Xbox. With waning interest in science on schools (another reason to boost funding for NASA), stories like this should get more coverage from that angle.
John Healey
August 22, 2011 at 3:52 PMThe key point here (from a quick view) is the Voltage output doesn’t tel you much, Amperage tells more, Power tells most. Also the precise way they are wired is important. The “flat” and the “Fibonacci” need different wiring to be optimum.
Solar PV cells are surprisingly simple, but their application is quite complex.
John H
paula
August 22, 2011 at 8:40 PMI agree with TSH. The most important thing is this kid is THINKING and DOING something about sustainable issues. He’s interested and he’s pro-active. No need to rain on his parade!