The Solar TreeSolar Botanic claims to be in the process of developing what it is calling the solar tree. They say they are making this move in response to the perceived niche market for aesthetically pleasing solar power generators. The idea is to have electricity generation units that blend in seamlessly with the visual environment. 
The company claims these trees will produce electricity from three sources. Those are sunlight, heat, and the movement of the wind.The main component of the solar tree is to be the solar leaf, a small photovoltaic unit that absorbs sunlight via solar panels. Heat is transformed into electricity via a means that is not clearly explained, and the movement of the leaves from wind also is transformed to electricity by little motors at the base of the leaves. Cost And RealityThe productions cost of a device such as this is likely to be enormous. Solar panels are not cheap to make at the best of times, but they are cheapest when they are made on a large scale. These solar leaves are just too small for that to be possible. Also, the machinery would have to be so fine that achieving a reasonable cost for this idea looks impossible. Plus given that each tree would need thousands of leaved and tiny motion motors, it's starting to look like a bit of a joke. There's also the question of security. With the current world-wide glut of hooligans a delicate structure such as a solar tree is likely to be an easy target for vandalism. There is also the question of their ability to withstand extreme weather events. I can imagine that these finely built machines would also be costly to repair should damage occur. Not quite the cheap solar panels most of us would rather buy. SummaryIt's a nice idea and in the perfect world it'd be a great addition to clean energy production. The company may be worth keeping tabs on in the unlikely event that this idea catches on, but there seem to be too many obstacles in the way. Still, I'd love to see an operational model. To be honest, this website looks like a hoax along the same lines as the Genpets one that caused such a stir a few years back. Nice effort though.
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