He had an idea, and tested it by building two solar panel arrays; one in the typical flat-panel design, and another modeled after the branching of trees. The results were amazing. The "solar tree" collected 20 percent more electricity, or roughly 2.5 more hours of sunlight, than the flat-panel array on a typical day. But that's not all: the real energy savings occurred in the winter months, when the sun hung low in the sky. Aidan reports that in those circumstances, the solar tree collected 50 percent more sunlight and energy than traditional photovoltaic panels!