Home Emerging Tech News These colorful solar panels can blend into almost any building. The foil cutting patterns can imitate roof tiles without impairing the efficiency of the PV module. Marco Ernst / Fraunhofer ISE Solar panels are great for the planet, but have long been a headache for architects, homeowners, and historic preservation boards. That tension between sustainability and aesthetics may finally have a real solution. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Germany have developed a technology called ShadeCut, which applies colored, patterned films to solar modules that can convincingly mimic roof tiles , masonry, or even custom logo designs. What is ShadeCut and how does the colored solar panel technology work? ShadeCut builds on an earlier Fraunhofer invention, called MorphoColor, a bio-inspired coating technology inspired by the Morpho butterfly.…