Innovations of the future call for further development of clean energy resources with more environmental protections. The photovoltaic leaves and wind turbine located on this state-of-the-art mounting structure, visually similar to a natural tree, does just that. The photovoltaic leaves of this system are composed of less heavy metal materials, reducing chemical leaching onto surrounding soil and ecosystems. The wind turbine that is located at the top of the tree structures also environmentally considerate of native species safety. Optimized at low wind speeds, this vertical wind turbine is thin and has protective mesh surrounding the internal components; thus preventing various organisms from being impacted by the blades or nesting within the internal system of the wind turbine. The mounting structure adopts unique visual characteristics, like the golden ratio, to help it maintain a natural tree structure shape. By these applications, the structure will not be a psychological stressor to native organisms of the imposed environment, allowing the system to be aesthetically pleasing to consumers, unlike tradition renewable energy systems. The industry changing nature of this project makes it distinctively innovative, causing it to have many challenges. Throughout the project, these considerations were implemented into the design details. Upon completion of the construction of the tree structure, the experimental period provided roughly 300 days of valuable data points detailing the performance characteristics of the system.These results proved the system to be operating at a desired level and confirmed its proof of concept.
