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Inhabitat credits treehugger.com as its source. Treehugger's article is not breathless about biomimicry, not spread over two pages, and not interrupted by adsen

Inhabitat credits treehugger.com as its source. Treehugger's article is not breathless about biomimicry, not spread over two pages, and not interrupted by adsense and images. http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/13-year-old-makes-solar-breakthrough-with-fibonacci-sequence.php http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/08/13-year-old-makes-so... Edit: The source of treehugger's article is Aidan's own article, which is better still, and addresses briefly some of the issues raised in comments here (e.g., about fixed vs. tracking pv arrays). http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/2011/aidan.html http://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/youngnaturalistawards/201...

waterlesscloud 15y ago
Last paragraph sums up the possible advantages- Aidan wrote: "The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays and works in spots that don't have a full southern view. It collects more sunlight in winter. Shade and bad weather like snow don't hurt it because the panels are not flat. It even looks nicer because it looks like a tree. A design like this may work better in urban areas where space and direct sunlight can be hard to find."
- felipemnoa 15y ago
  >>The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays Very true. That is a huge advantage if space is a concern.
  - sushumna 15y ago
    TO be specific - If "horizontal space" is a concern. Solar Tree consumes vertical space.
- anamax 15y ago
  > The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays The tree takes up less "floor area", but it takes up considerably more volume because it is significantly taller. That's why, in most places, you probably don't want to replace large panels with a single tree, but with a forest of mini-trees. Trees also have a "concentration of weight" problem, which can be an issue for roof-top installations. The entire weight of the tree is on its trunk, which has a lot smaller cross-section than a comparable panel. Roofs that can handle weight that is spread out often have problems with concentrated weight. Again, the solution is a forest of mini-trees. Note that the optimal spacing for solar-panel mini-trees is different from tree spacing in nature because nature's trees aren't just trying to optimize energy collection, they're also trying to crowd out their neighbors.
  - djb_hackernews 15y ago
    Just because it's shaped like a tree doesn't mean it has to have a central trunk. However, mini trees are probably better for aesthetics, weather, maintenance, etc.
ColinWright 15y ago
In part, this is why it says in the guidelines: In Submissions ... Please submit the original source. If a blog post reports on something they found on another site, submit the latter. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Your last link has now been submitted by someone as a separate item and is just so much better. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902496 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902496
- llambda 15y ago
  Colin, It seems a great deal of your comments have begun to fall into either the "this has already been posted" or "you're not following the rules" category. Do you see the problem with "contributing" material on top of material you see as less than satisfactory? You're only adding more cruft to the cruft. We get it. You don't like reposts. We get it. You don't like it when people don't follow the rules to a "T". Guess what? This is what happens. It's the real world where people don't always make the best choice all the time. If you would get over that fact and focus on making insightful comments I think you'd be doing everyone a favor. Lastly, to cite the oft quoted Guidelines: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did." Edit: here is a list of links to Colin's comments from the first and second page of his comment history where he is either complaining about resubmissions or the rules not being followed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902905 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902905 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902882 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902882 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902745 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902745 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2901255 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2901255 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900909 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900909 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897109 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897109 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896827 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896827 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896677 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896677 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896311 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896311
hencq 15y ago
The kid's own article is great. He explains all the steps he went through and the things he learned along the way. He learned about history, biology, the scientific method while doing something that interested him. Props to his parents and/or teachers who stimulated him to go through with this. I don't think his 'invention' is that revolutionary. If you don't want your solar panels to overlap, it makes sense to choose step sizes that are coprime (which consecutive fibonacci numbers are). I don't think the invention matters that much here though. Aidan is obviously a bright kid and I'm sure he'll go on to do interesting things.
- techiferous 15y ago
  Most (nearly all?) inventions aren't revolutionary in their novelty but are just an increment above what already existed. So I'm agreeing with you but want to make sure the inventiveness of this kid is not understated--especially since I think the intelligence demonstrated in his article is above that of a typical US college graduate.
  - jseliger 15y ago
    "Most (nearly all?) inventions aren't revolutionary in their novelty but are just an increment above what already existed." This is true. If you're interested in the history of invention, try Steven Berlin Johnson's "Where Good Ideas Come From." Fascinating book, lots of depth, much recommended.
    - spodek 15y ago
      And James Burke's amazing series "Connections" and "The Day The Universe Changed." One of the best shows I've ever seen. It's on Youtube. Here's the first link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSxL8GUn-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSxL8GUn-g

waterlesscloud 15y ago

Last paragraph sums up the possible advantages- Aidan wrote: "The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays and works in spots that don't have a full southern view. It collects more sunlight in winter. Shade and bad weather like snow don't hurt it because the panels are not flat. It even looks nicer because it looks like a tree. A design like this may work better in urban areas where space and direct sunlight can be hard to find."

felipemnoa 15y ago
>>The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays Very true. That is a huge advantage if space is a concern.
- sushumna 15y ago
  TO be specific - If "horizontal space" is a concern. Solar Tree consumes vertical space.
anamax 15y ago
> The tree design takes up less room than flat-panel arrays The tree takes up less "floor area", but it takes up considerably more volume because it is significantly taller. That's why, in most places, you probably don't want to replace large panels with a single tree, but with a forest of mini-trees. Trees also have a "concentration of weight" problem, which can be an issue for roof-top installations. The entire weight of the tree is on its trunk, which has a lot smaller cross-section than a comparable panel. Roofs that can handle weight that is spread out often have problems with concentrated weight. Again, the solution is a forest of mini-trees. Note that the optimal spacing for solar-panel mini-trees is different from tree spacing in nature because nature's trees aren't just trying to optimize energy collection, they're also trying to crowd out their neighbors.
- djb_hackernews 15y ago
  Just because it's shaped like a tree doesn't mean it has to have a central trunk. However, mini trees are probably better for aesthetics, weather, maintenance, etc.

ColinWright 15y ago

In part, this is why it says in the guidelines: In Submissions ... Please submit the original source. If a blog post reports on something they found on another site, submit the latter. http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html http://ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Your last link has now been submitted by someone as a separate item and is just so much better. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902496 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902496

llambda 15y ago
Colin, It seems a great deal of your comments have begun to fall into either the "this has already been posted" or "you're not following the rules" category. Do you see the problem with "contributing" material on top of material you see as less than satisfactory? You're only adding more cruft to the cruft. We get it. You don't like reposts. We get it. You don't like it when people don't follow the rules to a "T". Guess what? This is what happens. It's the real world where people don't always make the best choice all the time. If you would get over that fact and focus on making insightful comments I think you'd be doing everyone a favor. Lastly, to cite the oft quoted Guidelines: "Please don't submit comments complaining that a submission is inappropriate for the site. If you think something is spam or offtopic, flag it by going to its page and clicking on the "flag" link. (Not all users will see this; there is a karma threshold.) If you flag something, please don't also comment that you did." Edit: here is a list of links to Colin's comments from the first and second page of his comment history where he is either complaining about resubmissions or the rules not being followed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902905 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902905 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902882 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902882 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902745 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2902745 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2901255 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2901255 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900909 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900909 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2900877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899857 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2899687 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897109 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2897109 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896827 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896827 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896677 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896677 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896311 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2896311

hencq 15y ago

The kid's own article is great. He explains all the steps he went through and the things he learned along the way. He learned about history, biology, the scientific method while doing something that interested him. Props to his parents and/or teachers who stimulated him to go through with this. I don't think his 'invention' is that revolutionary. If you don't want your solar panels to overlap, it makes sense to choose step sizes that are coprime (which consecutive fibonacci numbers are). I don't think the invention matters that much here though. Aidan is obviously a bright kid and I'm sure he'll go on to do interesting things.

techiferous 15y ago
Most (nearly all?) inventions aren't revolutionary in their novelty but are just an increment above what already existed. So I'm agreeing with you but want to make sure the inventiveness of this kid is not understated--especially since I think the intelligence demonstrated in his article is above that of a typical US college graduate.
- jseliger 15y ago
  "Most (nearly all?) inventions aren't revolutionary in their novelty but are just an increment above what already existed." This is true. If you're interested in the history of invention, try Steven Berlin Johnson's "Where Good Ideas Come From." Fascinating book, lots of depth, much recommended.
  - spodek 15y ago
    And James Burke's amazing series "Connections" and "The Day The Universe Changed." One of the best shows I've ever seen. It's on Youtube. Here's the first link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSxL8GUn-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSxL8GUn-g