giving/giving.github.com — Issue #1: Airborne Wind Energy (AWE)
Author: AWES
Created: 2012-03-09 18:12:10+00:00
State: open

There is a vast renewable energy resource of "upper wind" higher than windtowers can reach. It has been shown that special kites can tap this energy, but the control challenges are formidable. There is a need for kite flight automation software, smart-grid power handling, meteorological data intergration, shared airspace integration, and so on. System concepts range from small simple devices to vast gigawatt-scale kite farms.

The AWE field is new, but there is already strong open-source R&D culture dedicated to helping this technology replace fossil fuels and lift up the "energy-disadvantaged". This is a chance to help architect the foundational enabling software environment, both as a societal contribution, and also as a once-in-a-lifetime professional opportunity. For a comprehensive overview of the current field see: energykitesystems.net