Aidan's Fib
This post has zero to do with money, finance, economics or Wall Street. The subject of the post, however, may one day be a household name so I figured I would alert you guys to his presence. With alternative energy sources being such a hot topic over the past few years, many have gotten into the speculative space. Only one of them is a 13 years old kid from New York.
Aidan Dwyer should be the next poster child for math and science jocks everywhere. The kid may have made a huge breakthrough in solar panel design while hiking in the Catskill Mountains. Apparently, the kid used the Fibonacci Sequence to design a super efficient solar array proving that there is more to mathematics than its use within the comfy confines of a spreadsheet.
First he determined the ratios representing the spiral pattern of the leaves and branches on an oak tree, using a cylindrical double-protractor tool of his own design. Then he copied the pattern using a computer program, and built an oak tree-shaped solar array out of PVC pipe. He next built a flat-panel array mounted at 45 degrees, like a typical home rooftop array, and attached data loggers to each model to monitor voltage.
Wow, that sounds awesome...now somebody please translate for me... I am happy to admit when I know very little about a subject and this is certainly one of them. In reading, young Mr. Dwyer's original essay I probably learned more than I did in my whole high school career. Though it is the work of a child it is also a stark reminder that innovation and advancement has jack shit to do with rank, age and experience.
I just thought I would throw that up for any of you with ideas dancing around your head you think cannot be brought to fruition. Props to young Aidan and who knows, maybe one day solar energy will be a full time reality thanks to the work of a pre-teen. Should serve as a reminder for all of you guys to stay creative and stay a kid on some level. Enjoy the rest of your day...perhaps go for a hike?
http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/08/aidan-dwyer-solar-news-gets-realit…
There are skeptics out there but regardless this kid still put in more work than most others his age. That alone makes him a winner in my book.
Agreed. Encourage this kid, and others like him, and we all benefit.
Both are very cool posts. I find alternative energy extremely intruiging and interesting. Will be a big part of economics in the future I believe.
The issue has to do with maximizing solar exposure, as well as QUALITY of solar exposure.
Nature tends to find the most optimum solution. That being said, the solar needs of a plant are not identical to those of a solar panel.
It seems that yes, an array using his placement would probably gather more sunlight, but that's just one part of the equation. How much of that increase in sunlight actually gets translated to increased power when you take into account that solar panels operate at different efficiency curves than plant leaves? If solar panel efficiency spikes in direct sunlight, then obviously a more traditional array is better.
You'd really have to do some high-level physics theoretical and experimental studies to know for sure, and that's even before you get into cost-effectiveness (i.e. is the additional cost for mounting such an array justified by the efficiency gains?).
I like the kids intuitiveness and biomimicry is a very useful design concept. That being said, there's a reason planes don't flap their wings even though all birds/insects do; as well as a reason cars have wheels instead of legs, which all animals do. We have to do more due diligence to see just how useful biomimicry would be in this instance. I actually thought about this in passing once but I never ran an actual experiment or anything of the sort, I just assumed that it had to do with the above and wrote it off.
These are some good points. When I first read this article, I thought the same thing. It seems so intuitive, why hadn't anyone else thought of it? SB +1
Great point.
Genius.
He's an alien, a cool one though.
This kid will be a billionaire one day.
I hope he gets a patent on this LOL
Ha, better get a patent.
Not taking anything away from the kid but this has been seriously over-hyped by a lot of people who simply don't understand it. Props to the kid though it's not his fault the media blew it up and ran with it, he's obviously a pretty smart kid with a bright future.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:JmlMNqVPKlsJ:uvdiv…
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2011/08/natural-history-museum-…
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