Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Can you solve US energy crisis?

Now you can match wits with a computer to see if you can find the right energy mix for the country for 2050. It's an online game devised by a nonprofit effort called PoweringANation.org.
The multi-media site is being put together by students at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, an effort that's part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. The Energy Cocktail game is particularly fun - you try to create the balance of energy sources that won't raise costs dramatically but that also meets the goal of decreasing carbon dioxide emissions.

The Balancing Act game is fun too, if you're a local government policy wonk. You pretend to be a city manager making decisions about everything from a new water park to a cattle ranch to a new shopping mall, trying to balance the need for economic development with the strains on local water sources and power plant capacity.

And be sure to watch the video from the Gulf coast town of Venice, La. I saw it last month when I was visiting campus as a parent of a soon-to-be UNC student and a UNC J-school alumna.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

More streetcars is the only way to save our planet from fossil fuels.

FKA Cato said...

The multi-media site is being put together by students at UNC Chapel Hill's School of Journalism and Mass Communications, an effort that's part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education.

Just what the country needs: a science project run by innumerate j-schoolers.

consultant said...

"Can you solve the energy crisis?"

Well let's see. Remember how BP (Born Pimping) said they could kill the well by August? Not so fast:

http://tiny.cc/kp3mw

Display Name said...

Well, it is no SimCity 4 (the best, most realistic city simulator ever! ...I had a lonely childhood) but it is interesting enough. Thanks for the link!

Jumper said...

Too many "givens" from on high. Unknown if the "demand" includes 100% lighting by LEDs in 2050, for example. Or use of reversible heat pumps, or how they come up with value of geothermal. If there were requirements to place geothermal pipes beneath all fill zones of construction, and all landfill in general, the equations would change. Similarly, energy used to manufacture "cheap crap" and packaging materials are not addressed. Nor are concepts such as the end of the automobile as we know it.

consultant said...

"Can you solve the energy crisis?"

Got to solve the survival crisis first. This is where our train is headed:

http://www.businessinsider.com/gerald-celente-greatest-depression

Our family's firm eats this data for breakfast. There's no way out of this for most people. We can't amortize all this debt because it's too big and there are too many other fundamentals that are out of whack.