MIT Making Super Efficient Origami Solar Panels

ByronScott writes "Could the next solar panels be in the shapes of origami cranes? They could be if MIT power engineering professor Jeffrey Grossman has his say. Standard flat solar panels are only optimized to capture sunlight at one point of the sun's trajectory — otherwise they need automated tracking systems to follow the sun. But Grossman found that folded solar cell systems could produce constant power throughout the day sans tracking and his new designs are up to two and a half times more efficient per comparative length and width than traditional flat arrays."

Comments

Re:Tired of hearing about super efficient..

[phantomfive]

A lot of states offer subsidies for installing solar panels. My understanding is that Arizona is one of them. So when you say it cost you $X to install, it didn't really.

He has a point. As soon as solar panels are cheap enough, everyone will be doing them, no legislation needed. And by now they should be, based on the stories we've read.