Time Is Energy

Turning solar upside down

It seems to me that people could easily double, triple, or more the output of a solar panel by installing the panel upside down and placing mirrors underneath it. Like this:
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Sorry for the vintage DOS/1982 artwork, but it would work just like a larger version of an upside down fluorescent light fixture, with the solar panel taking the place of the bulb.

Solar panels cost ~$50 square ft (assumes $5 a watt and 10% efficiency) and mirrors cost ~ $5 a square ft (maybe less). There must be a simple mirror arrangement where 10 square ft of mirror can more than double (as much as 5x?) the amount of sunlight falling on each square ft of solar panel.

Yes I am familiar with concentrating solar power/parabolic trough systems, I am talking about simple flat mirrors and flat solar panels. The 10 square feet of mirror could be 10 individual mirrors approximating a parabolic curve.

What am I missing? (i.e. why isn't anyone doing this? or is someone?)

posted by Daniel @ 1:57 PM