Design Aspirations for Energy Autarkic Information Systems in a Future with Limits

Abstract

An information system is energy autarkic if its operation is integrally sustained by an ambient energy source, typically renewable, for long periods of time. An energy autarkic system's sustainability increases if the environmental cost for its design, material, construction, repair and recycling is minimal, the social value of its creation, use and disposal is widely justifiable over time and diverse contexts, and it has further potential as a usermodified, upcycled, or salvage system. In this essay I discuss a number of past solar-powered information system designs, comparing them with contemporary solar autarkic prototypes, reflecting on their actors, their histories and their socialtechnical trajectories. I conclude by proposing a set of aspirational design characteristics for sustainable autarkic computing systems, in as much as they represent a class of transitional computing aligned to a future with limits.