www.epa.gov/airscienceAIR CLIMATE & ENERGY RESEARCH PROGRAMB U I L D I N G A S C I E N T I F I C F O U N D A T I O N F O R S O U N D E N V I R O N M E N T A L D E C I S I O N S

U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

Generate!A game for understanding energy system choices and challenges

2U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

What is the U.S. energy system?• Primary energy resources:

Fossil: coal, natural gas, petroleum Renewable: wind, solar, hydro, geothermal,

biomass Other: uranium

• Technologies to convert primary resources to useable energy like electricity, gasoline, etc. Petroleum/oil refineries Electric power generation

• End-use sectors that use electricity and fuels Residential Commercial Industrial Transportation

3U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

1

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

2

Industrial

Residential

Transportation

Commercial

U.S Energy Flows from Resource to End Uses

CoalNatural Gas

Petroleum (Crude Oil)

SolarWind

Hydropower

BiomassGeothermal

Nuclear

*Numbers represent relative

energy flows in quads

(quadrillion Btu)

ElectricityRejected Energy

UsedEnergy

4U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

1- Solar

3- Hyrdro

4-Wind

5-Geo

6- Natural Gas

7- Coal

8- Biomass

9- Petroleum

2-Nuclear

Industrial

Residential

Transportation

Electricity

Commercial

Coal = 7Natural Gas = 6

Petroleum (Crude Oil) = 9

Solar = 1Wind = 4

Hydropower = 3

Biomass = 8Geothermal = 5

Nuclear = 2

U.S Energy Flows from Resource to End Uses

Rejected Energy

UsedEnergy

5U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

An Energy Game• A simple “simulation” of an

energy system

• Helps us to see some of the challenges and tradeoffs involved in making energy choices

• Each team has the same total energy (area of pieces)

• Each team does not have the same mix of energy pieces

• Goal is to fill the game board with energy types to achieve the lowest total score

Score = purchase cost + operating cost + CO2 cost

6U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

The game board = the “grid”

• Teams are the decision makers for how they want to produce energy

• You will use this board for multiple rounds of game play

• Each team can be thought of as a town, state, region or country

7U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

Nuclear

Renewables

Fossil Fuels

Types of energy pieces

8U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

How much does it cost to build/purchase?

How much does it cost each year to run/operate?

How much CO2 does it produce?

Total Score = 2000 + (46 * 30) + (0 * 30) * CO2 cost(over 30 years) = 3380

What primary energy resource does it use?

Size: how much energy does it produce?

Parts of the energy pieces

* Units are generic, but represent relative costs of energy sources

9U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOffice of Research and Development

Now let’s play a few rounds of Generate!