A single tree generates enough electricity to provide the necessary energy for a three-room house. Excess energy produced can be sold back into the main grid.
The Energy Tree can supplied with battery storage to power your house at night and charge your electric car. Overnight off peak power can be stored in the battery system.
Commercial parking is an ideal application for the SolarBotanic Tree to harvest and store solar energy and charge EV, with a rapid charge option. A grid connection allows cheaper off peak power to be stored.
The robust construction of the Energy Tree’s components allows it to stand against the most turbulent conditions.
SolarBotanic's first-generation solar 'energy tree' will be available in early 2023, and the company asserts that it will be affordable once it’s mass produced.
I've been liking this idea since I read David Brin's description (which came before any real-world examples, as far as I know) in his 1990 novel Earth. Consider the Sunshade-Photocell Collector:
Then he saw the geek - a codger this time - leaning against one of the slender stalks of a sunshade-photocell collector, looking directly at the three of them.
I like the idea of electric vehicles sheltering under a solar tree that is recharging them, but I can't help but think you'll need a much bigger "tree". A typical Tesla needs about 50 kWh for a decent charge, so a more realistic image would be one car charging per tree, all day.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/7/2022)
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.' - Neal Stephenson, 1995.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Stratospheric Solar Geoengineering From Harvard
'Pina2bo would have to operate full blast for many years to put as much SO2 into the stratosphere as its namesake had done in a few minutes.'