>>1621301>>1621283Brings to mind the late 19th century, when coal shortages and labor tumults encouraged the development of solar steam (pictured), which I think is another interesting divergence point.
But thinking of bikepunk, adjust a fluke or two in the ancient history of the Earth, and the uncountable eras of concentrated sunlight we call oil would've become ruined. Without an easily accessible, potent, and liquid form of energy, things would've probably developed in just that direction. Since every society lives at the pace the energy available to it sets it, there would've been a good long while before battery technology would permit personal motorized transportation or significant portable energy. Man-powered machinery would've likely been common when and wherever electricity wasn't directly or cheaply available.
Amusingly, even in our history, most major electric power plants were hydroelectric until around the 1950's! Funny to think that fossil fuels didn't become a significant portion of our energy production before we already were getting into nuclear power. Hell, with some effort we might've skipped this fossil fuel driven step we're currently living in, although I admit that's a bit of a stretch of the imagination.
But I'm rambling and I don't know where I'm going with this anymore.
