So, I have an idea for a story that takes place after a solarpunk society collapses. Just to be clear I don't think the utopian "Solarpunk" isn't really punk, so this in this case, it was actually a dystopian society powered by solar energy. There is also a bit of a Biopunk element as the elite would use genetics to mutate and enslave the lower class (which ultimately backfired).

Now in the events leading up to the story, the solarpunk society is toppled and the major key source of solar energy is destroyed in the process.

Thus, the title. What are other alternate sources of power/energy would be the most readily available after the collapse of a Solarpunk society?

Solarpunk is punk fiction. When cyberpunk started becoming more mainstream, it was starting to become blasé as the tropes were becoming old hat. Punk authors came up with solarpunk as a counter cultural push against what was the then mainstream cyberpunk.

7875440 Well, in that case then no one should complain if someone creates a Utopian cyberpunk story... But then it wouldn't be punk. I just think it's funny how people try to restrict these genres and restrict the imaginations of the creators who want to use them.

And the fact is, it wouldn't be that hard to make an actual dystopian solarpunk setting. Just look at the degree of hedonism that sun worshippers got up to in the past (human sacrifice being among them) and just push it forward to a time when a bunch of rich blokes control the distribution of the energy and there you have it.

7875446
They did create a utopian cyberpunk series of stories, it's called solarpunk. You take all the dystopian tropes of cyberpunk and flip them 180 degrees. Now you have technology being used for the overall benefit of mankind instead for the benefit of the super wealthy and super powerful.

7875449 It actually isn't. See the reason cyberpunk is called cyberpunk is because it is typically a dystopian setting that majorly features cybernetics, cyberspace or both.

Solarpunk however is themed around solar energy.

While the two will occasionally intermingle, they are by no means two sides of the same coin. They are different coins that will sometimes share the same coin purse.

Now to clarify why I believe that the utopian "solarpunk" isn't really solarpunk, is the fact that the original use of the word punk (as seen in cyberpunk) establishes that there is some sort of force for the protagonist(s) to stand up against. However, if the "punk" setting is a utopian society where everything is perfect, then what is there for the main character(s) to stand up to... there isn't anything. It therefore isn't punk.

I'm not saying that solar energy isn't something to strive for, simply that the utopian "solarpunk" is a misrepresentation of the genre and what the genre could be.

7875758
The in punk fiction, the term punk means anything that runs counter to mainstream culture, at least originally. It gets its name, or at least borrows it, from the punk rock and punker movements. Take goth-punk, it can take elements of classic horror, like vampires, werewolves, reanimated corpses ala Frankenstein-style and zombies, and blend it with high and/or low fantasy elements, generally in a modern setting, a great example of goth-punk fiction is the World of Darkness setting.

Solarpunk is punk fiction as it was created after cyberpunk became mainstream as a means to create something that ran counter to it. When something becomes accepted by the normies, it's no longer counterculture, it's mainstream culture. Solarpunk hasn't caught on in the mainstream yet because it doesn't have that edgy coolness to it.