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writing:solarpunk_in_fantasy_settings [2025/11/30 21:04] – JacobCoffinWriteswriting:solarpunk_in_fantasy_settings [2026/01/12 21:27] (current) – JacobCoffinWrites
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   * **[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_house|Spring Houses]]/Cold Houses** - Spring Houses are small single room structures built over a spring, to keep the water clean and sometimes to [[https://www.harvardshakers.com/shaker-spring.html|channel some of it into an outflow pipe]] to provide running water downhill. The chill from the spring could be used to preserve food, so some spring houses were built to keep animals out. A Cold House is a perhaps regional term for a [[https://naturalbuildingblog.com/some-history-of-springhouses/|similar small stone building]] built over a flowing stream instead of a spring, used for food preservation, usually milk. (a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/comments/19big3b/not_sure_what_this_is/|couple]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/12zc7xi/what_is_this_building_a_little_hut_in_the_woods/|examples]]).   * **[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_house|Spring Houses]]/Cold Houses** - Spring Houses are small single room structures built over a spring, to keep the water clean and sometimes to [[https://www.harvardshakers.com/shaker-spring.html|channel some of it into an outflow pipe]] to provide running water downhill. The chill from the spring could be used to preserve food, so some spring houses were built to keep animals out. A Cold House is a perhaps regional term for a [[https://naturalbuildingblog.com/some-history-of-springhouses/|similar small stone building]] built over a flowing stream instead of a spring, used for food preservation, usually milk. (a [[https://www.reddit.com/r/homestead/comments/19big3b/not_sure_what_this_is/|couple]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisthisthing/comments/12zc7xi/what_is_this_building_a_little_hut_in_the_woods/|examples]]).
   * **[[https://historicsoduspoint.com/commerce/ice-harvesting/|The Ice Harvest]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_house_(building)|Ice Houses]]** - Sometimes called the Winter Crop, blocks of ice cut from freshwater lakes and ponds were an important export from cold regions before refrigeration. Ice was cut and stored in Ice Houses (small sometimes-buried structures shaded by trees) where it was covered with sawdust to insulate it into the summer, or sold abroad, transported by wagon, train, and ship.   * **[[https://historicsoduspoint.com/commerce/ice-harvesting/|The Ice Harvest]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_house_(building)|Ice Houses]]** - Sometimes called the Winter Crop, blocks of ice cut from freshwater lakes and ponds were an important export from cold regions before refrigeration. Ice was cut and stored in Ice Houses (small sometimes-buried structures shaded by trees) where it was covered with sawdust to insulate it into the summer, or sold abroad, transported by wagon, train, and ship.
-  * For a much older, more permanent and insulated ice house design check out the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l|Yakhchāl]] from Iran. The design seemes to rely pretty heavily on evaporative cooling and the low humidity of the region and could even produce ice. +  * For a much older, more permanent and insulated ice house design check out the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakhch%C4%81l|Yakhchāl]] from Iran. The design seems to rely pretty heavily on evaporative cooling and the low humidity of the region and could even //produce// ice. 
   * **[[Fermented foods]]**   * **[[Fermented foods]]**
 +  * **[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_butter|Bog Butter]]** - This is an ancient practice of burying animal fat or butter in wooden vessels in bogs in order to use the low temperature, low oxygen, highly acidic environments of the bog to preserve it (or to hide it). The linked Wikipedia page also references other foods which are buried to preserve or prepare. 
  
 === Moving and Using Water === === Moving and Using Water ===
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 Solar panels might be out but there are plenty of other interesting ways to use solar power.  Solar panels might be out but there are plenty of other interesting ways to use solar power. 
  
-**Solar Concentrators** - There's a ton of different designs (from parabolic mirrors to giant lenses) for use in all kinds of purposes, but the important thing for a fantasy setting is that they're generally pretty simple. Mirrors (which in this case would probably be polished metal because making big sheets of smooth glass is hard), a framework, and mathematical formulas for the overall shape, and you can produce incredible heat – up to 3,500 °C. In real life wood and coal met most of society's heat and metalworking needs, but a society that went all in on solar concentrators could find all kinds of clever configurations, layouts, and scales to use them at. [[https://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/cokeandchocolatebar/|Small, concave, handheld mirrors for starting fires]], [[https://solarcooking.fandom.com/wiki/Scheffler_Community_Kitchen|Scheffler reflectors]] [[http://www.solare-bruecke.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/2-the-scheffler-reflector?itemid=|bouncing light]] into households, bakeries, or common kitchens to run ovens, [[https://inhabitat.com/old-fashioned-steam-engines-could-solve-solar-energy-storage-problem/concentrated_solar/|parabolic troughs on rooftops heating water in pipes]], perhaps cities specifically built where the local rock formations allow for massive [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_furnace|solar furnaces]] or even something like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanpah_Solar_Power_Facility|fields of mirrors]] being manually (or magically) aimed at the right furnace. A mix of some or all of these could give a fantasy region a visually distinctive character. +**[[solar_concentrators|Solar Concentrators]]** - There's a ton of different designs (from parabolic mirrors to giant lenses) for use in all kinds of purposes, but the important thing for a fantasy setting is that they're generally pretty simple. Mirrors (which in this case would probably be polished metal because making big sheets of smooth glass is hard), a framework, and mathematical formulas for the overall shape, and you can produce incredible heat – up to 3,500 °C. In real life wood and coal met most of society's heat and metalworking needs, but a society that went all in on solar concentrators could find all kinds of clever configurations, layouts, and scales to use them at. [[https://www.wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/fire/cokeandchocolatebar/|Small, concave, handheld mirrors for starting fires]], [[https://solarcooking.fandom.com/wiki/Scheffler_Community_Kitchen|Scheffler reflectors]] [[http://www.solare-bruecke.org/index.php/en/component/content/article/2-the-scheffler-reflector?itemid=|bouncing light]] into households, bakeries, or common kitchens to run ovens, [[https://inhabitat.com/old-fashioned-steam-engines-could-solve-solar-energy-storage-problem/concentrated_solar/|parabolic troughs on rooftops heating water in pipes]], perhaps cities specifically built where the local rock formations allow for massive [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_furnace|solar furnaces]] or even something like [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivanpah_Solar_Power_Facility|fields of mirrors]] being manually (or magically) aimed at the right furnace. A mix of some or all of these could give a fantasy region a visually distinctive character. 
  
 If you want to go a bit later in the timeline, solar concentrators were even used to generate steam which was then [[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Solar-steam-engine-for-water-pumping-near-Los-Angeles-circa-1901_fig1_338391519|used to drive water pumps for agriculture]]. And to [[https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/27/augustin-mouchot-french-pioneer-solar-power-engine|run a basic refrigerator]]. If you want to go a bit later in the timeline, solar concentrators were even used to generate steam which was then [[https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Solar-steam-engine-for-water-pumping-near-Los-Angeles-circa-1901_fig1_338391519|used to drive water pumps for agriculture]]. And to [[https://amp.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jul/27/augustin-mouchot-french-pioneer-solar-power-engine|run a basic refrigerator]].
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 === Agriculture === === Agriculture ===
  
 +  * Biochar is fantastically cool and can be an excellent way to improve soil:
 +      * https://medium.com/local-carbon-network/a-perspective-on-terra-preta-and-biochar-765697e27bd5
 +      * https://medium.com/local-carbon-network/biochar-and-the-mechanisms-of-nutrient-retention-and-exchange-in-the-soil-e733dacdc3ea
 +  * Many of the techniques in the [[winter_greenhouses|winter greenhouses section]] are low tech enough to apply here. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple_pit|Pineapple pits]] and [[https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2015/12/fruit-walls-urban-farming-in-the-1600s/|fruit walls]] were effective using very simple tech though [[https://www.notechmagazine.com/2024/04/fruit-trenches-in-hungary.html|citrus trenches seem to have been less successful.]] 
 +  * If you're interested in farming in wetlands, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinampa|Chinampa agricultural system]] (farming on artificial islands) is very worth reading up on! This is a pretty ancient farming practice from Mexico and Central America, which is still in use in some areas. It's also important to note that [[https://naturemeetsculturestories.wordpress.com/2017/07/28/floating-gardens-of-the-aztecs-myth-reality/|despite a lot of claims by Europeans over the years]], Chinampas didn't float. For that you may want to check out the [[https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220814-the-floating-homes-of-lake-titicaca|floating islands]] of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uru_people|Uros on Lake Titicaca]]. 
  
 === Working with Trees === === Working with Trees ===
  
   * **[[https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/09/how-to-make-biomass-energy-sustainable-again|Pollarding and Coppicing]]** are a useful way to harvest wood from living trees, and even to shape the wood a bit (the long, straight branches produced were useful for fences, tool handles, firewood etc).   * **[[https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2020/09/how-to-make-biomass-energy-sustainable-again|Pollarding and Coppicing]]** are a useful way to harvest wood from living trees, and even to shape the wood a bit (the long, straight branches produced were useful for fences, tool handles, firewood etc).
-  * **[[https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/living-fences-zmaz10onzraw/|Hedgerows and living fences]]** - Hedgerows are a traditional practice of shaping suitable trees into living fences which provide [[https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/hedgerows-nature-uk-countryside-christopher-hart/|valuable]] [[https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-07-04-trees-and-hedges-farmland-significantly-boost-butterfly-numbers-study-finds|habitats]] and last generations. ([[https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-8721-guide-hedgerows-plantings-enhance-biodiversity-sustainability-functionality|A version tailored to North American plants]]) +  * **[[https://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/living-fences-zmaz10onzraw/|Hedgerows and living fences]]** - Hedgerows are a traditional practice of [[https://www.reddit.com/r/solarpunk/comments/x31qrc/living_fence_example/|shaping suitable trees]] into living fences which provide [[https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/hedgerows-nature-uk-countryside-christopher-hart/|valuable]] [[https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2025-07-04-trees-and-hedges-farmland-significantly-boost-butterfly-numbers-study-finds|habitats]] and last generations. ([[https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-8721-guide-hedgerows-plantings-enhance-biodiversity-sustainability-functionality|A version tailored to North American plants]]) 
-  * **[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridge|Living bridges]]** - This is a type of tree shaping mostly found in India and Indonesia, using the aerial roots of trees to bridge rivers and canyons. As long as the tree from which it is formed remains healthy, the roots in the bridge can naturally grow thick and strengthen.+  * **[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_root_bridge|Living bridges]]** - This is a type of tree shaping mostly found in India and Indonesia, using the aerial roots of trees to bridge rivers and canyons. As long as the tree from which it is formed remains healthy, the roots in the bridge can naturally grow thick and strengthen. These carefully shaped bridges are an excellent fit for wet climates - [[https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/08/01/892983791/photos-living-tree-bridges-in-a-land-of-clouds|they survive long rainy seasons, earthquakes and floods, grow stronger over time, and can be made with time, effort, and an understanding of native plants.]]
  
 === Architecture === === Architecture ===
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   * Consider whether to make access to sunlight [[https://www.reddit.com/r/solarpunk/comments/11eqfhc/the_solar_envelope_how_to_heat_and_cool_cities/|a foundation of your urban planning]] or whether people would want to [[https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250715-how-old-dubais-historic-streets-beat-extreme-heat|minimize it to stay cool]].    * Consider whether to make access to sunlight [[https://www.reddit.com/r/solarpunk/comments/11eqfhc/the_solar_envelope_how_to_heat_and_cool_cities/|a foundation of your urban planning]] or whether people would want to [[https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250715-how-old-dubais-historic-streets-beat-extreme-heat|minimize it to stay cool]]. 
-  *     I've seen some claims that the villages the Puebloan peoples [[https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/cliff_dwellings_home.htm|built in cliff alcoves on the sides of mesas]] were intended to benefit from winter sunlight while sheltering from summer sunlight, but since most of those articles didn't get the name of the people right, I'm now doubtful that that fits. It could just be the alcoves were more sheltered than living up on the mesa tops where they farmed. (I'll update once I've done some more reading)+      * I've seen some claims that the villages the Puebloan peoples [[https://www.nps.gov/meve/learn/historyculture/cliff_dwellings_home.htm|built in cliff alcoves on the sides of mesas]] were intended to benefit from winter sunlight while sheltering from summer sunlight, but since most of those articles didn't get the name of the people right, I'm now doubtful that that fits. It could just be the alcoves were more sheltered than living up on the mesa tops where they farmed. (I'll update once I've done some more reading)
   * In addition, consider passive systems like [[https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2025/06/dressing-and-undressing-the-home/|Awnings]] and [[https://www.womanandhome.com/homes/homes-news/victorian-sash-window-hack-air-conditioning/|sash windows]] which were common before air conditioning.   * In addition, consider passive systems like [[https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2025/06/dressing-and-undressing-the-home/|Awnings]] and [[https://www.womanandhome.com/homes/homes-news/victorian-sash-window-hack-air-conditioning/|sash windows]] which were common before air conditioning.
 +  * From what I've read, [[https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/derinkuyu-turkey-underground-city-strange-maps|cave cities]] were mostly [[https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20220810-derinkuyu-turkeys-underground-city-of-20000-people|designed around defense]], but the stable underground temperature also provided protection from cold winters and extremely hot summers. Below ground, the ambient temperature is constant and moderate. As a bonus, it is easier to store and keep harvest yields away from moisture and thieves.
 +  * [[https://slrpnk.net/post/2963315|This post on How to build a heat-resilient city]] has a bunch of low-tech solutions to hot climates/seasons. 
  
 +=== Transit ===
 +
 +The [[https://humantransit.org/2024/12/one-of-the-greatest-inventions-in-the-history-of-human-transport.html|first Fixed Route Public Transport network]] was a series of horse drawn carriages traversing carefully selected routes on a frequent schedule in Paris (ferries operated in a similar way earlier but this was the first planned system I could find that deliberately set out to operate this way). It started up surprisingly late in human history in 1662 but the prerequisite technologies were horse-drawn carriages and the idea itself, so it's not unrealistic to move the timeline up if your setting needs it. 
 +
 +In a way, the idea of the structured system of independent drivers operating on planned routes is itself a technology which can fit any vehicle such as water taxis, or [[https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/12/how-to-downsize-a-transport-network-the-chinese-wheelbarrow/|Chinese wheelbarrows]].