A naturally intelligent network managed by the sun.

Solar Protocol is a planetary-scale network of solar-powered servers, installed and maintained by volunteers around the world. The servers collectively host the Solar Protocol web platform at solarprotocol.net/ , serving it from whichever server is in the most sunshine (and producing the most energy) at the time. Decisions about how network traffic is routed and where the computational work is done, are automated according to a solar logic derived from season, time of day and weather conditions across the planet. As an algorithmic system that uses sunlight instead of machine learning to automate decisions, the project provokes new ways of thinking about intelligence and automation.

Solar Protocol also explores what a low carbon internet infrastructure and web design could look like. It provides solar-powered web hosting for the project’s community and functions as a kind of planetary-scale, virtual artist-run space.

Presented within the framework of BMFTR - Science Year 2025 – Future Energy