One of the biggest green living stories of the past several days is one of a a 13-year-old, Aidan Dwyer, who reportedly created and filed a patent for a groundbreaking, super energy-efficient solar panel array setup based on the Fibonacci sequence of some tree branches. The system was supposedly 20% more efficient than traditional, flat solar panel arrays, in general, and 50% more efficient in winter.
Too good to be true?
Apparently, yes.
While just about every green (including cleantech) site I follow covered the breakthrough news, someone on a more critical science blog went ahead an examined the technology and findings more closely and wrote an extensive debunking (cached version here — the post is no longer up).
So, Aidan’s 15 minutes of fame have apparently run up. And we all look a little more foolish for jumping on the story.
But the bottom line of the story isn’t really about any of that, I think. I think the most important thing is to admire the goals, dedication, and potential of this young kid. Aidan was given a “2011 Young Naturalist” award in July from the Museum of Natural History in New York, something only 12 other students from grades 7-12 received. And, more importantly, the kid is dedicated to helping the world through science.
“I’m interested in science because it helps the world,” he said.
Anyway, on to page 2 for some top Green Living stories of the past few days:
For a complete and easy to understand breakdown of the problems with Aidan’s findings, go here: http://optimiskeptic.com/2011/08/21/this-is-where-bad-science-starts/
Thanks 😀