The Ship

Hello, World.

I'm Tomasino.

This is Solar Punk Prompts,

a series for writers where we discuss solar punk,

a revolution against despair.

In this series,

we spend each episode exploring a single story prompt,

adding some commentary, some inspirations,

and some considerations.

Most importantly,

we consider how that story might help us to better envision

a sustainable civilization.

If this is your first time here,

I'd recommend checking out our introduction episode first,

where we talk about what solar punk is,

why you should care, and why this series came into being.

Today's prompt is, The Ship.

There's a modern cargo ship made with sails and solar

panels,

trying to replace the oil guzzlers of old and connect the

world again.

It is crewed by sailors, old and young,

engineers maintaining some experimental solutions,

and some communities trying to travel in old container

houses.

They have a lot on their plate.

The term solar punk was coined in 2008 in a blog post from

Republic of the Bees called From Steampunk to Solar Punk.

The post was inspired by the launch of the MS Beluga Sky

Sales,

the world's first cargo ship partially powered by a giant

computer -controlled kite rig called the Sky Sales System.

In the post, the author says, In solar punk,

the interest in older technologies is driven by modern

world economics.

If oil isn't a cheap source of energy anymore,

then we sometimes do best to revive older technologies that

are based on other sources of energy,

such as solar power and wind power.

That's exactly the case for SkySales,

whose massive kite deploys from ships about up to 400

meters where winds are stronger.

Computer controls keep it aloft in patterns to maximize

wind strength.

That's cool, but are they effective?

Well,

the maiden voyage of that cargo ship saw a 20% reduction in

fuel use.

Longer term use saw the number fluctuate between 10 to 30%,

depending on the route.

So that level of savings means we should see sales on every

cargo ship now, right?

Well, unfortunately no.

Henning Kuhl, head of business development at SkySales,

shared,

There's a structural problem slowing down the process.

Ship owners, who have to make the investment,

often don't pay for the fuel.

That's the charterer's duty.

The charterer on the other side doesn't charter the ship

for long enough a period to make low carbon technologies

payback.

Regardless,

the technology is proven and seeing applications in other

sectors,

while new inflatable sales are being tested aboard merchant

ships,

which have a better economic model to support their fuel

savings.

As access to or use of fossil fuels diminishes,

many types of transportation activities enjoyed today will

become prohibitively expensive.

Air travel has particular challenges in this regard.

There may be some hope for energy -dense liquid fuels made

from biomass or vastly improved battery designs,

but the cost will surely see steep inclines during that

transition.

As an alternative, many travelers may turn to rail,

which is much easier to run on renewable power.

For those traveling abroad,

water may be the only viable choice.

Beyond individual travel is the much larger volume of

traffic due to our global trade infrastructure.

Getting goods and materials to places that need them has

driven human endeavor for generations,

and will continue to do so regardless of the political or

economic systems at work.

These types of trade missions need to be fruitful

enterprises.

That may mean something in terms of capital,

or it may mean a goods for goods transfer.

Not all habitats and ecologies can support the same types

of production, after all.

So some level of travel for trade will be likely,

regardless of the future community setting.

But people living in a future world aren't going to adopt

old transportation systems just for the fun of it.

They need to fulfill the needs of the communities and be

viable for the work.

Staffing an 18th century galleon may make for an

interesting story,

but a modern container ship is so much more capable and

stable.

SolarPunk isn't about regressing to old technology for the

vibes, as it were.

It's about finding a balance with our environment through

human ingenuity.

Thus, a container ship that could be my to use biofuels,

or to use solar and wind is a more realistic vision for the

future.

The question becomes,

will the solutions be good enough to make the container

ships viable again?

And that can even become a driving question for your own

story.

How much hinges on the success of this particular ship?

Is it a prototype?

Is this experimental vessel run by a half anarchist

organization who truly wants to help?

Or is the foundation behind it willing to get some more

grant money by convincing the government they can ship the

refugees away?

One way or another,

the crew has their own opinions of these stowaways.

And here's a good time to think back on our SolarPunk

guidelines.

We've been discussing the technology,

or rather the infrastructure,

that would allow for travel and trade.

Infrastructure is sexy is one of our guidelines after all.

This should be a major component of the story,

but let's not forget the other two,

community as protagonist and the human environmental

context.

The human factor is essential.

If we want to envision that better future where we have

achieved that balance, we need to show people living it,

not just the technology they use.

So let's ask some questions about our people.

Our prompt says of our ship.

It is crewed by sailors old and young,

engineers maintaining some experimental solutions and some

communities trying to travel in old container houses.

So,

do the old sailors trust the new inventions that power this

ship?

Do the young ones romanticize the age of sail?

Are the scientists and engineers cranky that people won't

let them properly analyze what's happening?

How do these various groups relate both to the ship and to

one another?

Being set in a solar punk future doesn't mean we change

human nature.

We should still see the full gamut of personalities and

those personalities are going to rub up against one another

in ways that make tension and drama,

especially in a closed environment like a working ship.

You have a very varied community.

The sailors, the engineers, the researchers,

probably a journalist or a poet or two,

and then there are other people in the container houses.

Are they displaced, refugees, sea nomads or something else?

Is it an entire community moving together or just a

collection of homes from all over?

Are these just passengers or do they contribute to the ship

operation?

Perhaps they are the cooks or the cleaning crew?

Remember,

the communities aboard will spend a few months together at

least, even if it begins as just a motley crew.

to, it won't remain that way for long.

They are a big and robust community full of varying

interests and motivations.

Their commonality is this trade mission,

and seeing it done according to their community ideals.

That's a lot of story brewing in a small pot,

but there's more.

Travel by Sea is an age -old storytelling setting.

That gives us an abundant amount of opportunities to engage

with a variety of encounters.

Think all the way back to Homer.

There's an infinite number of challenges to present your

Solar Punk Sea voyage,

but why not double down on the message and think of ways to

focus those challenges on the ethics of their community?

Maximum Solar Punk effort, as they say.

What would the crew do if they find a vessel overfishing in

a protected area?

Now your community has a real dilemma.

How far do their own ideals extend?

Do they have a moral imperative to stop others damaging the

environment?

You can see how a situation like this may play out in other

iterations.

What if they encounter others still using fossil fuels?

What if they encounter piracy?

Just try to keep your own ends in mind with your story.

It's easy to slip into an us vs them narrative.

We want to show that better future in action,

and part of that involves a struggle to get there,

but be careful it doesn't become a backdrop in all the

action.

Alright.

Until next time, I'm Tomasino.

I hope you'll join me for the next Solar Punk Prount.

Music in this recording is Leventarum El Vuelo by Circus

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