Solarpunk - An Empire Fancied by Solar Energy

[Tangle Shine]

Most fictional fantasy settings surround the concepts of steampunk, cyberpunk etc. Currently I have been working on an empire literally running by solar energy, basically coined as solarpunk. My questionnaires are:

- What is exactly a solarpunk?
- What conditions or terms should that particular setting be counted as solarpunk?
- How solarpunk actually operates on?
- What type of architecture solarpunk is based on?
- How this kind of 'punk' affects the outcome of an empire (or a nation)?

Kindly provide feedbacks which I will be very appreciated. :3

 

[CupofJoe]

There is probably a doctoral thesis in "What is -punk?".
I think the work "punk" comes from dead soft useless wood, so for me its a certain rough and ready worn feel to the technology. In Steampunk, the steam powered machines that seem fantastic to us are common place and boring within the setting. In Cyberpunk, neural-jacks and bionic implants are the norm, the people without them are seen as strange. Dieselpunk [my favourite -punk] has V8 cars and multi-wing aircraft that wouldn't look out of place in the Wacky-Races...
As for most of your questions, I think you will have to decide.
Solarpunk will be what you want it to be.
[But if it is Solarpunk - I'd image there would be a lot of sunlight and a whole lot more Photocells]

 

[WooHooMan]

There is already such a thing as solarpunk.

The "punk" usually refers to the characters. In cyberpunk, it's the outcast savant hacker or whatever. In steampunk, it is the independent maverick who is often an expert of some kind (inventor, adventurer, etc.). In dieselpunk, it is the mechanics, the builders, the people who get their hands dirty. The "punk" comes from the DIY spirit of individuals creating stuff.

 

[Ban]

The great magnificent online book of mostly correct knowledge called "wikipedia" has a page on it.

Solarpunk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That should help you out hopefully

 

[DragonOfTheAerie]

I think the whole point of the (xyz)-"punk" stories is that their world is based around a different form of technology than that of our world. In our world we get most of our energy from fossil fuels, but in your solarpunk world most of their energy would come from solar power.

Some ideas: You might have "light farmers" tending vast fields of solar panels. I can imagine something like setting household appliances and items out in the sun to charge. Life and activity might basically shut down after dark--you might not have many electric lights and such working in the nighttime, the things that work in the daytime would take up so much energy. If this was true, the work and sleep schedules of the people would still be governed by the cycle of night and day. Just some ideas.

My favorite "-punk" would have to be biopunk (based around genetically engineered creatures and technology made from living creatures)