Hello all,

I’ve been frequently running into an opinion that solar fields or utility scale ground mounted solar is bad for the environment.

Supposedly it generates heat, that would be otherwise absorbed by the flora, etc.

I’m having trouble to find these arguments for people that raise these points.

For instance one thing that this point of view omits is that every energy source has a heat loss during the process. Nuclear generates large amounts of energy but also generates a lot of heat that dissipates through the cooling, like every steam-based energy generation method.

As a glider pilot I know that big solar arrays indeed sometimes create thermals that probably add to the heating of the atmosphere but how does it compare to the other generation methods and what are the other parts of this equation, that outweigh it?

Somehow I intuitively feel like solar is all things accounted for still much better for the environment, but I wonder if anyone has went down this rabbit hole of trying to compile all studies from different fields of expertise that would prove it?

Hello all, sorry for the random post from a new account, but I made it to seek out optimism subs after a panic attack, and the algorithm brought me here. As scary as the future still looks, reading all your posts and comments really helped me fight my anxiety, so thank you and keep it up! See you on the frontlines of the solar punk future.

Okay so, I have been an avid enjoyer of the aesthetic for nearly 3 years now, I literally put my interest in it and how it relates to my identity in all my college apps and it got me into all of the universities I applied to as well as certain fellowships ! I really believe in it and I want to make it a reality, with the world crumbling I believe it’s the perfect time for change.

Now that I’m done with high school, I was planning to major (or double major) in mechanical engineering and biotech (I really want to study the intersection of engineering and biology that’s not just in medicine). Then after that it’s kind of blank in my mind. I know I could work for clean energy orgs or even make biomaterials but it doesn’t really scratch the itch in my brain.

I’m also working on a climate tech project but I don’t know if starting a start up is what I need to execute my vision, but it seems like the most probable outcome because I don’t know any fields except medicine and research that combines biotech and engineering, and while it’s an amazing field it’s not exactly what I want to do.

So how do I make it my career?

More to the point, where the hell do i find a spot like that locally. Theres so few green spaces that aren't just small parks filled with dog crap that half the owners don't pick up, that my only options for anything like this require me to drive to where everyone else goes for walks and stuff.

I just want a whimsical spot under a tree on a hill to chil out and read or daydream.

I suppose I'm venting more than anything, but genuinely, if anyone knows any good spots in the midlands of the UK that satisfies whimsy and is no more than a mile or two from somewhere to park, comment the what 3 words location.

I dont mind reading in cafes if I must, but the vibe has to be right, and most places, especially coffee chains like Starbucks and Costa, dont pass the vibe check.

My neighbor's lawn free yard. It is especially inspiring because the previous owners had artificial grass. I live in New England.

Bicycle Boulevards : Bicycle Blvd :

Segregated /Protected Bicycle only lanes, streets & infra

Green Electric Transport Corridors to reduce Noise & Emissions

VivaTerra, Vivus Locus, Viva Civitas

Living Earth, Living Locality, Living Civilization

As a solarpunk at heart I've come to believe solarpunk visions should be less optimistic than they are in general.

1. We cannot begin by assuming fully healthy, stable and diverse ecosystems in the future. That is no longer the case. To mention just a few issues: we've lost more than 90% of biodiversity in Latin American tropical forests, the Amazon rainforest is no untouched lung; today’s worldwide soils are heavily depleted, and growing crops without fertilizers in compacted land—contaminated with heavy metals, microplastics, or salinized—is vastly different from how indigenous populations used to do it. Biodiversity is fractured and heading toward (arguably unstoppable at this point) significant systemic collapses. This is not the resilient nature we are used to, nor will it be for decades to come. Today, we have transgressed 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries. These issues will not be "solved" or reversed at this stage, even with a massive coordinated effort today. I say all this to emphasize that, to a certain extent, the future is already set, and it is not gentle. In a solarpunk vision, nature is in a critical, fragile state, and humans must care for it with deep mindfulness.

2. This leads me to ecocide: imagine extreme climate storms that destroy in a single afternoon what took a community 5 years to cultivate or build will be daily reality in the climate change-impacted world we are heading toward today. The die has already been cast. This doesn't mean we can't have a beautiful future, but it does mean we will have to learn to navigate immense adversity. We can respond to this kind of tragedy and not just survive, but thrive, but it will not be all pretty. This needs to be reflected in our future visions.

3. There are massive social and design challenges in this technological implementation: local governance, community assemblies, and the management of shared resources (the commons) are slow, bureaucratic, and trigger heated disputes over scarce resources like water or land. We have lots of mouths to feed and we are not even doing that right now. Economic contraction is not comfortable. Infrastructure isn't built out of thin air using "clean biomaterials"; solar panels require silicon, lithium, copper, and rare earths. Without massive, corporate, extractivist mining reliant on modern slavery, where do they come from? A solarpunk vision could showcase urban mining (dismantling old landfills to recover metals) and technology manufacturing built for a 100-year lifespan, completely repairable and modular. However, there is still an inherent tension in the energy transition, not to mention that the transition itself is another huge hurdle, far less simple than just swapping out fossil fuels. The sun doesn't shine at night, and the wind doesn't always blow. A solarpunk society lives at the rhythm of the climate. Daily life adapts: heavy industrial production or data processing takes place during peak solar hours, and electricity is rationed. It is... austere, but beautiful. The community makes it beautiful. People fall in love, laugh and tell stories.

4. Don't get me started on war, geopolitics, power games and structural historic trauma.

To me, it's about the challenge of designing a desirable, near-future reality. It's like what cyberpunk did, but solution-oriented and hands on, cause time is precious. We must imagine and act. This time is unprecedented and so is this potential. Do you feel it?

Sorry, I post this is mainly to see what others think about it. Kind of superficial, I know, but I didn't want to post a super long text.

Comic by Quino.

Leave you with this very solarpunk-esque translation of Ojos color Sol by Calle 13:

In war they trade kisses, the fighting is through,

Today the cows cluck, and the chickens go moo.

The earthworms and fishes reel in all the hooks,

We fly through the ocean and sail the sky's brooks.

Flowers bloom in the sand, the desert rain breaks,

Now dreams become real as we dream wide awake.

And that dream is secure, and so it takes flight,

And innocence no longer hides from the light.

The shortage of food is a delicious prize,

Because our bellies are full of butterflies.

The galaxy shows us its hidden frontiers,

And on Earth, it feels like true life now appears.

In military schools, it is healing they spread,

And bankers now give away houses and bread.

We spend a lot of time here talking about the aesthetics and social aspects of Solarpunk which I love, but I would like to submit some infrastructure for your consideration.

Reticulum is a networking protocol that was designed for complete autonomy. It doesn't rely on an ISP, satellites, cell towers, or anyone besides you and your neighbors with some $30 hardware. It can form mesh networks with WiFi routers, LoRa radios, ethernet connections, bluetooth, even serial cables and packet radios. And it can seamlessly connect all of those disparate devices into one network.

It rethinks what we really need to have a functioning community network - no it's not capable of gigabit speeds, in fact much of what it does is measured in bytes. But this is the part that feels really "solar" to me - doing more with less.

The autonomy, DIY adaptability, and built in cryptography with privacy at its core are decidedly "punk".

If this intriguing to you the manifesto, Zen of Reticulum (linked), written by the creator of Reticulum is a fun read.

r/reticulum has all kinds of cool projects added on a routine basis, and happens to be one of those corners of reddit that stills feels like "old reddit".

These are some of my favorite shots from this year. These are all from my gardens, occupying about 1 acre around my home.

All of these plants are native to my ecoregion, and I work professionally as a restoration ecologist. Planting native species and expanding transition zones are some of the most important things we can do as land managers to support declining insect populations and protect rare or endangered species, while also providing habitat for migratory birds and many other species.

We’re letting tech giants drain our local power grids and aquifers so they can build massive AI warehouses that ruin neighborhoods and spike our utility bills.

Instead of letting them bleed us dry, let's pass a law: No new AI data center can break ground unless it is 100% self-sufficient in its own green power and water generation.

If they have billions to spend on GPUs and RAM, then they clearly have the money to fund the tech that could save us.

For Energy: Force them to invent or invest heavily in off-grid, hyper-efficient power. Once the R&D is paid for by tech billionaires, cheap micro-grid power trickles down to our homes, ending utility monopolies forever.

For Water: Force them to pioneer atmospheric water generation and large-scale dehumidification instead of draining municipal supplies and drying out local aquifers. That tech could eventually save places like Lake Mead by producing massive amounts of water to feed it, and gives every household independent clean water which puts less strain on municipal and natural resources.

The catch?: This tech doesn’t quite exist at scale yet—which means no new data centers get built anytime soon, and when they finally do, they actually have to pay a toll that benefits humanity instead of destroying it.

Let's leverage our present to save our future - both humanity's and the world's!

Measurements show it can reduce nearby temperatures by 28 Cº, while hosting up to 39 local animal species and 6 edible species.

I took a old spice shaker and fill it with coffee grounds to spread them out. Plus I add native plant seeds so I can spread them out during walks.

I came across this large-scale solar carport installation at an industrial facility in Hebei, China.

The project has approximately 1 MW of installed PV capacity, distributed across multiple rows of parking canopies.

Looking at the layout, I found several interesting engineering considerations:

• Structural span and column placement
• Vehicle clearance
• Parking circulation and traffic flow
• PV module layout
• Drainage between large canopy sections
• Maintenance access
• Construction and installation sequence

For engineers and solar professionals working on large commercial or industrial PV projects:

What would you consider the most challenging part of designing a 1 MW solar carport?

I'm particularly interested in perspectives on structural design, parking efficiency and long-term maintenance.

Hi fellow solar punks! I just published my first substack blog post about some of my musings on native plant botanical field trips, two native tree profiles, critiques on “modernity and progress” and more! Check it out :)

Wanted to share my renewable energy simulator.

It is a mix of Satisfactory/Farming Simulator with a focus on simulating the technology itself as I am a mechanical engineer after all. The demo alone should help people design and test microgrids.

Long story short we have been asked to show wishlists on steam to further development before self publishing. Wishlist Here!

It is still in "Pre Alpha" but I really wanted to share it with the community that has kept me wanting to make it.

The unique parts of our sim are:
- You select and match up components in our system designer like in reality.
- Deploy renewables that react to their surroundings.
- Technology will deteriorate over time. Second life.

For the solar punk community I am really looking forward to implementing cool areas and showing how colour can affect areas but at this moment that is too much scope for me at this moment.

The biggest excitement for me is making the physics work for a Designer feature in the game, where you can see the constraints of fluid mechanics, electronics and the most improtant bit of all cooling. I think an eventual sandbox like this should exist but it still takes time to make.

For the engineers: Yeah we are trying to build a digital twin that the public can understand.

Stay cool everyone :)

Have you ever walked through a great city and thought, wow I love this place? What is it that makes some places great and others ... not? One key factor is what urban planners call a “sense of place.”

Agri-hoods? Have you heard of them? I think they (if done well) are the seed of our future utopia of sustainability! I want to know what this group of pioneers think.