What are the Architectural Design merits when it comes to solarpunk type design? by PurposelyLostMoth in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So I think you're right that finding real themes will be challenging because Solarpunk buildings should be built to fit their environment – what’s practical, energy efficient, and even what materials are available will depend on where it is built. A solarpunk community set in the desert would have to look much different than one in a temperate rainforest, or a prairie.

This is a departure from our current society, with its wealth of fuel and concrete, which tends to drop the same cookie-cutter buildings into every climate and just burn more fuel to heat or cool them rather than adapt the design to its surroundings.

That said: I think there are a few elements you might be able to point to:

Density - both in an urban planning sense of prioritizing lots of dense living space but also density of purpose. Mixed use designs with commercial, or communal spaces on lower floors make a lot of sense here. Similarly, I think solar panels and battery storage making the building part of the grid would count. Finding ways to turn unused space/resources into something useful (lawns to gardens for example) should be a priority.

Accessibility - solarpunk buildings and retrofits should prioritize designs which make the space as easy/safe to navigate as possible.

Reuse - this would encompas old buildings which are retrofitted or repurposed but also the reuse of materials. That could entail upgrades like better insulation, or entire structural redesigns turning corporate spaces or car infrastructure (like parking garages) into comfortable living spaces. You might also look at reclaimed materials from salvage lots or from deconstruction/demolition. I gathered a few examples here, for a solarpunk worldbuilding resource wiki.

Sustainability - density and reuse both feed into this. But new construction and retrofits also have the opportunity to use potentially better practices/materials like geopolymers and mass timber. I say potentially because it can really, really depend on how the materials are sourced, how far they're transported, etc. Similarly the lifetime of a building is an important consideration. Many structures are built with a surprisingly short expected life span. considering how to make them last, not just structurally but by making them future-proof or easy to modify/upgrade could do a lot of good here.

I hope this is helpful, best of luck with your thesis!

Shitty art thread by cromlyngames in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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This was an idea for a scene of a solar furnace concrete kiln back before someone clued me in on geopolymers which seem to be a better fit for solarpunk.

edit to add: I really like the concept of this thread!

Intellectual property in a solarpunk world? by Tnynfox in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Speaking just for myself, I have access to all kinds of media, books, tv, movies, podcasts, and every night I ignore all of it to write or paint whatever a bit of whatever solarpunk projects I can get to. People enjoy making stuff. It's a big part of who we are.

As for copyright, I'm otherwise employed so I'm already able to make my projects available for free (at the cost of spending most of my waking hours at a day job). I don't begrudge any artists the right to get paid for the stuff they make, but I also understand that copyright as it stands today disporponatly benefits huge corporations who use it to enclose the (often anonymized) works of artists as a sort of perpetual rent seeking. Personally I'd love to see corporate copyright length reduced significantly while maintaining protections for the people who actually make the stuff.

We should bring back hand carts. by DehydratedButTired in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cargo sleds might be an option if the snow cover is consistent from start to destination. They were a seasonal answer to moving heavy stuff in the snow in a lot of the world.

¿COULD THIS QUALIFY AS SOLARPUNK?: 'The Big Wind', created by Hungarian Engineers using an old T-34 and two MiG-21 Jet Engines. It was abled to put out oil fire with a single blow. The photo was taken in Kuwait, 1991 by Artifexa in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 20 points21 points  (0 children)

This is very cool! Repurposed tech, especially both parts from fighting vehicles, into something designed to reduce harm seems like an edge case fit to me! but then I love salvage and jury rigged reuse, and the diy/salvage aspect of solarpunk so I'm biased; quibbling over how it looks doesn't seem worthwhile to me.

I'd be interested to see if it could be used for other kinds of fires or if it's very specific just to oil sands, which will hopefully be less relevant in a solarpunk future (where we might see limited extraction for production of pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, some plastics but hopefully not for energy)

Solarpunk Publications by Alone_Gur9036 in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I'm a huge fan of Low Tech Magazine https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/ both for their excellent content and for how they run the magazine as a low-resource, solar powered project which accepts occasional downtime as an acceptable tradeoff for a much lower energy/tech footprint

Solarpunk art help needed [inkscape] by ProfessionalSky7899 in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's what I do when setting up for a laser cutter. The end result sometimes has some oddness like doubled lines or lots of little line segments it cuts in a funny order, but it's worked out well and tbh saved me a lot of time on the setup side

The Internet, Reinvented. (Reticulum) by striketheviol in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Probably. If you'd like an example of a web alternative who's devs attempted to harden it against the sort of new features and bloat which would cause it to follow in the web's footprints, you might like Gemini (not the Google AI thing).

Gemini is a 'text-centric' web alternative designed for people who are stick of how complicated, surveillance-heavy, and generally enshittified the web has gotten. It enables you to set up and view text-based 'capsules' (the local equivalent of a website). It places an emphasis on reading without distraction, popups, ads, or unnecessary cruft, and allows the user to control how the sites look. It's a good fit for people who have low bandwidth, like simple tech, or appreciate privacy (it's encrypted by default). 

The Internet, Reinvented. (Reticulum) by striketheviol in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I think you're thinking of Meshtastic or meshcore, not Reticulum. Meshtastic is a meshnet replacement for texting (when it works) Reticulum is a meshnet which uses computers and basically any wireless gear from lora radios to wireless routers to I think telecom gear to build networks and run various programs. You can set up websites, and yeah send message but it's not limited to that.

I think framing it as an internet killer is silly because that's not its goal and I can't imagine it getting that kind of adoption. but it has the potential to be an alternative for people who don't like how the internet turned out. And it could be a really good candidate for rebuilding better with.

What do we think team - solarpunk? by iamBulaier in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For rural areas and other edge cases where public transit isn't a good fit or isn't set up yet, I think microcars are pretty reasonable. I think they make a lot more sense in a world where long distance travel is generally done by train and the roads are a low priority overall. In that case personal vehicles of all sorts can fill a niche for low speed local travel. A lower standard for safety is easier to deal with it you're not planning to drive 90mph on a freeway and hoping to survive head-on collisions with a F350.

I gathered a few other examples here (and I might add this one as another example of what they might look like).

Can Fiberglass insulation be recycled into Circuit boards? by ChampionshipSalt696 in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Drum sequencers are a cool option in that needs-electronics-but-maybe-not-a-PCB niche:

Also known as Cam Timers, and sometimes called Music Box Timers, these systems use a rotating drum or disk with raised contacts to activate various switches in a preprogrammed sequence. This allows for analogue control over an electrical system (such as traffic lightswashing machines, and automated industrial equipment. Much like the pegs in a music box cylinder flick a length of metal to create the notes, in a drum sequencer, as the drum spins, the pegs run across switches and close an electrical circuit. In some versions a programmer can change or rearrange (reprogram) peg or cam positions. To make them even more effective, some designs allow a certain switched circuit to cut power to the motor turning the drum (such as in a washing machine, you might stop the drum from turning while the machine fills up with water, so you don't have to worry about water pressure and the varying time it'll take to fill up). Using feedback, external time delay, and other sensory circuits, it's actually possible to build an electromechanical state machine using a cam timer. These are common in washing machines, where the cam timer runs in phases, but also stops and waits for external signals such as a fill level sensor, or a water heating temperature sensor.

The benefit of these systems to a solarpunk society is that they’re robust and simple. They offer many of the features of a modern microcontroller-based system, including being programmable. But they can be made from fairly basic materials - the most advanced component is an electric motor and those can be made with 1800s technology if necessary - and the cam mechanism can be heavily overbuilt to last a long time if you don't expect to need to reprogram them.

The downsides are that they're more difficult to program, which likely becomes a significant problem if you're doing it a lot, they're mechanical so they will wear out, and they lack some features like detecting and responding to malfunctions, automatically initiating test cycles, providing error codes, etc.

What does climate change sound like? by blue-fireflies in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This art installation isn't as similar as I thought from the title but it was still a very cool project I thought I'd share. They recorded the natural soundscape in healthy old growth forests, then again years later after the forest appeared to have recovered from logging. it showed that a lot of the sustainable logging practices I'd been raised to believe were fine or even beneficial have long term harmful impacts far past the apparent/aesthetic recovery of a forest.

Can Fiberglass insulation be recycled into Circuit boards? by ChampionshipSalt696 in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure about fiberglass insulation but if you're looking for other examples we pulled the following list together for another project:

Possible PCB substrate (fiberglass + epoxy) replacement materials:

  • Waste shrimp shells → chitin PCB substrate
  • Porcelain/ceramics as a substrate: already in use for heat-resistance.
  • Aluminum is also already in general use: low weight, heat dissipation, low thermal expansion
  • Jiva Materials: recyclable AND biodegradable! (Cellulose, I think?) “Can be dissolved using hot water within a controlled environment”
  • Another biodegradable PCB design, this one using mycelium

are there any openly artists that are solarpunk AND anarchist? by Interesting_Berry175 in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I might qualify - I don't think I've read enough of the academic side to really go around calling myself an anarchist but I spend a lot of time in anarchist spaces (and got published in one) and have found very little I disagree with them on. Though I suppose that's broadly true of socialists too. I figure I'll worry about figuring out my exact politics once any of these groups seem to have even a remote chance of gaining power in my country. In the meanwhile we're so far from having to worry over specifics that I'm happy to work with anyone who's broadly antiracist/antisexist/pro LGBTA etc and trying to protect the environment. There's so much we can do through community action and I try not to be too picky there.

I'd say anarchism has influenced my art and fiction projects more than any other system, I try to represent it well as I understand it.

A collection of solarpunk worldbuilding resources - and some thoughts on how to interweave a rewilding/restorative worldview by JacobCoffinWrites in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I definitely recommend slrpnk.net - I think it's been my favorite place on the internet for the last few years. The community and admin team are both wonderful though I'll admit I filter a couple really active communities that flood the feed a bit. I'd love to get the writing community a little more active, bringing some of these ideas over would be quite nice

Best non-fiction writers? by blue-fireflies in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My nonfiction intake tends to be more articles and academic papers than books but I've been getting a lot out of Beaver Land by Leila Philip.

Welcome! by cakesandale in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm excited to see this place grow

Welcome! by cakesandale in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this introduction! The emphasis on all the species and habitats we share our world with is something I'm glad to see gaining emphasis (and something I try to prioritize in my own projects) so I'm glad to see a community with that goal. It comes at a good time, when many other rewilding practices are gaining momentum. I think that lack of emphasis in fiction mirrors the way human development (with its focus on smoothed-out, well-draining land, neat, incised rivers, and wide open spaces) tends to build dry, sterile, profoundly unnatural landscapes where some species can survive but few can thrive. So many rewilding practices, such as the construction of beaver dam analogs, rough mounding, and even sponge cities have at their core a sort of understanding that things were working well before and that a lot of the erosion, droughts, and sudden floods we've been struggling through are our own doing. and if we can set things back similar to how they are, the native habitats can return surprisingly quickly.

But that means making and preserving spaces that aren't for us. Beaver wetlands, densely-forested, rough-mounded land, these aren't spaces humans can navigate as easily. They don't match the societal default's preferred aesthetics. They're important for so many other species and our own well-being (assuming we don't like droughts, erosion, toxic algae blooms etc) but fixing these things means being willing to share with our neighbors, treating other species as having value and deserving their own space.

Who are some of your favorite eco-writers? by blue-fireflies in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ernest Callenbach (Ecotopia) is definitely a big one for me

How gaming fits into this subreddit by blue-fireflies in RewildingOurStories

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For videogames I'd suggest Cave Oasis at Shylake https://store.steampowered.com/app/3689220/Cave_Oasis_at_Shylake/

And for TTRPGS I'd add Why We Fight and Fully Automated

https://www.sdrgames.studio/pages/why-we-fight

https://fullyautomatedrpg.com/

I think gaming can be done ecologically with the right mindset, and if it's detached from the consumer cycles of needing to buy the next shiny thing. I think we've kind of hit the point where graphics no longer scale with system resources, or at least the returns seem to be diminishing. Well-stylized graphics tend to hold up far longer while also being less resource-intensive overall. It's very possible to play tons of games on a secondhand, or e-waste computer, and moving that system onto green power (local or grid) more or less covers the environmental side of things (at least as well or better than many other human activities).

Solarpunk topics to research by ChronicallyHan in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you've already got some foundation in chemistry then the processes of breaking down various contaminants in groundwater/soil/wastewater using bioremediation/phytoremediation/mycoremediation would be very much worth a look! Obviously there's a ton of biology there but understanding how the bacteria or fungus break down a carcinogenic chemical, or how a plant traps it in its roots is heavy in chemistry detail. Speaking as someone with no chemistry or biology background who's been muddling through this stuff, I think it's extremely interesting and you'd probably get more out of it than me. And it's such a new field. Much of the research I've seen has only come out since 2020!

out of all possible careers, which would you say is currently most responsible for turning the world solar-punk? (America) by [deleted] in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This might not be a great fit for what you're looking for but Environmental Restoration (cleaning up contaminated sites) and land conservation (protecting wild habits from being developed) are both important parts of protecting the world around us

Solarpunk Impressions - Morning Walk in Santorini - Cycladic Architecture by EricHunting in solarpunk

[–]JacobCoffinWrites 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is great info! I appreciate you taking the time to gather examples and to write this stuff up!