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Old 06-15-2018, 01:39 AM   #11
Benway
 
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

This is a excellent idea worth pondering.

I'm way outside by bailiwick here but it seems that a world with only solar power would be a desert. If there are different laws of physics involved or even something like magic or alchemy the possibilities expand.

Are there extensive fossil beds? Previous civilizations?

Is this a unique planet or an alternate Earth? What is the population density?
What TL(s)?

Perhaps the civilization in place was responsible for resource depletion.

Also, just because the setting relies on solar power doesn't necessarily mean that other energy resources don't exist- they might be too rare to feasibly support the population.
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Old 06-15-2018, 06:51 AM   #12
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

The simplest way to justify no petrochemicals is to say that the world was a barren planet terraformed by humans before a disaster destroyed their interstellar civilization. Without previous life, there are no fossils and no fossil fuels, so humans are dependent on biofuels, hydro, solar, and wind after their civilization collapses. Without external support, they would have likely fallen back to TL4 (the highest TL supportable without external support).

In that case, civilization would have probably collapsed before the colony population reached 10 million (otherwise, they would have only fallen back to TL5). Without external support, the fusion power plants and orbital solar arrays collapsed within a century, forcing the survivors to get by with surface renewable energy. A thousand years after the collapse of civilization, the world has clawed it's way back up to TL5, but it lacks the resources to jump from TL5 to TL6.
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Old 06-15-2018, 08:23 AM   #13
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

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Originally Posted by PTTG View Post
I think to a certain extent that's an exaggeration. The regions that had the greatest industrialization first weren't those that had exploitable fossil fuels, but rather wherever you had wealth concentration and dense populations well before industrialization began.
I think that's oversimplified. China had a denser population than Europe (and still does), and it was also the wealthiest region on the planet up through TL4. Japan and India also had dense populations, and Japan at least had considerable wealth. But that didn't give them industrialization. Japan jumped on in the late 19th century, around TL6, but was following a Western model; China only really industrialized during TL8.
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Old 06-15-2018, 08:46 AM   #14
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...but a world where NO petroleum products exist also won’t have lots of other things like plastic. That’s an even bigger impact than the fuels, IMO.
A world with no fossil fuels is also going to be quite short on metals - particularly if it also doesn't burn wood. Metal production depends more on the ability of carbon to reduce oxides than it is on its ability to generate heat by burning.
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Old 06-15-2018, 09:37 AM   #15
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

Yes, you need a minimum of charcoal to get any ceramics, glasses, or metals more advanced than TL 1, though a world without wood (or the equivalent) would be unlikely to be habitable (even the ancient forests of the Devonian had sufficient tree analogies to make charcoal). Any terrestrial plant can form biochar (a charcoal equivalent) if properly 'cooked', so you would need a world without terrestrial plant equivalents (seaweed would probably have too much salt to make useful biochar). You would definitely not have any solarpunk technology though, as you would be too primitive for solar boilers, much less solar power arrays.
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Old 06-15-2018, 12:21 PM   #16
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

Maybe instead of altering physics or planetology, one could alter biology, specifically the people's. Perhaps, the world has some petroleum products, but the locals have some insane allergies to its toxic fumes.

Coal and oil deposits are known, but considered as useful as pools of cyanide would be to us.
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Old 06-15-2018, 12:39 PM   #17
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

What about some hand-waving Phlebotinum? I'm reminded of Dinotopia's sun stones, which were naturally-occurring solar energy converters. One the size of two fists could power something the size of a car. The fact that you don't need vast sun farms means you can grant characters the independence needed to be "punk".

Though I realize the OP might want something realistic.
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Old 06-15-2018, 04:16 PM   #18
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

I quite like the idea of a colony that lodt contact with it's Interstellar civilization and the techbase just broke down.

Fossil fuels don't exist in any large quantity to do the recent seeding of carbon based life, but the planet is rich in metels and minerals. To make solar more appealing much of the planet is a desert with relatively little water coverage including rivers. Forests exist but are less common, and usually form a costal band around the super continent's interer desert.

If I was to include any green rocks, applied phenomenon, or unobtainum I'd go with naturally occurring room tempature super conductors. Use them to build energy pipelines from the solar farms in the interior to the costal cities.
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Old 06-15-2018, 09:16 PM   #19
Johnny1A.2
 
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Default Re: Solarpunk World Building

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In the broadest sense, all energy is solar (except for geothermal...).
And nuclear energy.
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Old 06-15-2018, 09:26 PM   #20
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And nuclear energy.
Fission power is ultimately from a star, although admittedly not the Sun. Some ancient supernova ran up a lot of post-iron isotopes and then blew them all over the place.

Fusion power, I'll grant the point.
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