File:Solar sunflower designs.jpg

Solar Sunflower design powers up

http://arstechnica.co.uk/science/2015/08/the-solar-sunflower-harnessing-the-power-of-5000-suns/

The Solar Sunflower looks awesome—and in this day and age where companies, governments, real estate developers, and hotel resorts are doing everything they can to appear greener, more engaged with the community, or otherwise differentiate themselves, looks are very important indeed.

In business, these are called soft factors, as opposed to hard factors. It can still make sense to buy something, even if it isn't the most financially prudent acquisition. Putting silicon solar panels on your roof to get cheap and green electricity is one thing—but sticking a huge Solar Sunflower in your front garden so that everyone knows that you're green is another thing entirely.

http://www.research.ibm.com/labs/zurich/dsolar/

http://www.airlightenergy.com/

Airlight Energy, a Swiss-based supplier of solar power technology, has partnered with IBM Research to bring affordable solar technology to the market by 2017. The system can concentrate the sun’s radiation 2,000 times and convert 80 percent of it into useful energy to generate 12 kilowatts of electrical power and 20 kilowatts of heat on a sunny day — enough to power several average homes