Fossil fuels have served as the primary source of fuel for mankind. However, the combustion of hydrocarbons poses significant environmental ramifications. Growing evidence of anthropocentric climate change has spurred the demand for alternative energy. Wind energy in particular has been a prevalent form of renewable energy that has yet to reach its full potential. In the recent years, the market for wind turbines has grown significantly due to technological advances in power output, efficiency, and design. Over the past two decades, there has been an exponential growth in the usage of wind energy, and along with that comes an equal increase in funding and spending on wind turbines globally. To illustrate this idea, in the last eight years alone the Department of Energy’s budget for wind technology has more than tripled (“Wind Program Budget”). While the technology of wind turbines has dramatically improved, several significant problems still exist, namely their large size, high economic costs, and noise, which could pose a concern for residents in their vicinity.

Due to the economic and logistical setbacks of a typical wind turbine, the aerial wind turbine team’s primary focus is to develop an aerial wind turbine that could be deployed in a variety of locations without much preparation. In doing so, power can be provided to people without the economic drawbacks of a permanent wind turbine while still supplying an ample amount of electrical power for individual use, a key problem in undeveloped or isolated parts of the world today. The main objective of the aerial wind turbine project is to design a structure that is not only light enough to remain airborne, but also structurally sound for commercial use. The secondary objective is to augment the power output within the constraints of weight and financial restraint and determine an optimal combination of power and structural components that would meet such requirements.