He was given a provisional patent for his idea
While many kids his age are toiling on Facebook or playing Call of Duty, Aidan Dwyer is revolutionizing the solar power industry.
The 13-year-old New York boy is being hailed in scientific circles for his idea on arranging solar panels, which is reportedly 20-30 per cent more efficient than the standard design.
Aidan told CNN: ‘… and it doesn’t collect dirt rain and snow as much as the flat panels, and I think it looks a lot nicer.’
Aidan credits the trees for giving him the idea.
He told the network: ‘One day I was just walking through the woods – well, on a winter hiking trip – and I noticed that the tree branches collect sunlight by going up into the air.
‘And I thought: “Maybe if we put solar panels on the ends of the branches it would collect a lot of sunlight.”‘
He then utilized the Fibonacci sequence to make it work.
In that, the series of numbers begins with the numbers 0 and 1, and then proceeds with each subsequent number being the sum of the prior two.
For example, the sequence would start as such: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…
Such a sequence can also explain how tree branches extend, and how Aidan’s design works.
Aidan told CNN: ‘My design is like a tree. But instead of having leaves it has solar panels at the ends.’
The teen said he’s been approached by professors and other schools that wish to work with him, but some critics have tried to debunk his work.