Check Out SmartFlower Solar PV We Think It's a Great Idea

 

In a follow up to our wishy-washy noncommittal take on SolarWindows not too long ago, thought we might highlight another company and their solar PV product that we do actually quite like, at least from a design perspective, but not sure what to make of it on purely practical terms, The SmartFlower. 

The SmartFlower is a mechanized "flower" that has solar panels for petals that open in to a disk form to collect energy from sunlight. The photo kind of speaks for itself. Pretty neat. From a design perspective it is a good looking product, turning something very industrial looking (a solar panel) in to something a bit more attractive and visually stimulating. There are some nifty bells and whistles that go with it. The panels can track the sun, so are more efficient, or at least better at capturing the sun throughout the course of the day. The panels also fold up and tuck themselves away, which is useful in bad weather environments, high wind etc. There is an integrated battery, another plus. The panels are only 2.5 kilowatts, so not a lot of juice, but EnergySage was quick to point out that the ability to track the sun really puts it on par with 3.5 kW to 4 kW fixed array. While the cost is not listed on their website (as far as we can find) it's estimated on the high end to be about $30,000, divide that by 4000 watts and the cost per watt is about $7.50, not cheap, but since it has a battery, not outright highway robbery. 

Ultimately the SmartFlower does collect clean energy, but for the price it's kind of more of a statement piece or educational tool. Follow them on Social Media for more - SmartFlower Instagram and SmartFlower Twitter 

Solar Windows Comes Under Fire From Seeking Alpha

 It doesn't take a genius to see that there is a lot of glass used in all sorts of construction... windows in fact. Buildings, homes, everything. For years there have been any number of companies trying to figure out how to make transparent solar cells, if you can turn glass into some sort of a power generation solar product then wow, what an idea. This is kind of the holy grail of building integrated solar PV. Solar Windows is one of the many companies who have been playing around with this idea. In fact they've been around for about 10 years. While we are a little cautious on claiming any technological expertise, 10 years and not all that much to show for it as far as anyone can find online. Well, maybe it's all smoke and mirrors. A recent article written by Western Edge and published to Seeking Alpha is claiming that Solar Windows is basically vaporware. The opening bullet point actually goes so far as to say "SolarWindow is to clean tech what Theranos was to health science". Oooofff. We're really not going to dive into the nitty gritty back and forth of who's right and who's wrong. On a personal level we want to keep our fingers crossed and cheer on SolarWindow because, yeah it's a great idea. But let's get real, they've also been unable to show anything for their work.

If you want to follow their work, check them out on social media, SolarTechWindow Twitter and of course facebook at SolarWindowTechnologies.

Our disclaimer, we are not suggesting to buy or sell any securities, we are not money managers, talk to a professional.