Playing seriously with mitigation

strategies for climate change

POLITECNICO DI MILANO ALTA SCUOLA POLITECNICA
Renato Casagrandi Giulia Gallia
Giulia Fiorese Matteo Giuliani
Emanuele Martelli Francesco Lunetta
Stefano Consonni Marko Radeta
Stefano Caserini Mario Sangiorgio
Marco Triverio
Founded by Politecnico di Milano and Politecnico di Torino
Top 150 students from both schools
Multidisciplinary environment
(engineers, architects, and designers)
 LR E A DY TO O L A T E
IT’S A
IT IS NOT HUMANS FAULT

CLIMATE CHANGE
IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE TO FIX

N O S U CH I S S U E !
THERE’ S
CLIMATE CHANGE
STATISTICS

WHAT IF W E D O N O TH IN G ?
 WHAT IF W E D O N O TH IN G ?
1,200
Energy consumption

900
Energy consumption (EJ)

600

300

0
1850 1900 1950 2000 2050 2100

ENERGY CONSUMPTION WILL INCREASE

Source: Stefano Caserini - A qualcuno piace caldo
 WHAT IF W E D O N O TH IN G ?
900.00

A2 (business as usual)
A1B
CO2 concentration (ppm)

735.00
B1
Known data
570.00

405.00

240.00
1890 1930 1970 2010 2050 2090

CO2 CONCENTRATIONS WILL INCREASE

Source: Science Magazine http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/307/5716/1769/FIG1
 WHAT IF W E D O N O TH IN G ?
0.70

0.53
Annual mean Five-year mean
0.35
Degree Celsius

0.18

-0.18

-0.35

-0.53
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

TEMPERATURES HAVE ALREADY INCREASED

Source: GISS NASA
 WHAT IF W E D O N O TH IN G ?
4.00
Annual mean Five-year mean Forecast
3.00
Degree Celsius

2.00

1.00

-1.00
1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020 2040 2060 2080 2100

TEMPERATURES WILL INCREASE

Source: GISS NASA, Stefano Caserini - A qualcuno piace caldo
 LET’S ACT NOW!

WE NEED MITIGATION
AS SUGGESTED BY PACALA AND SOCOLOW*
 3.00
Total emissions

stabilization triangle
Carbon Emissions (billion tons a year)

2.25

1.50

0.75

0
1996 2006 2036 2056

Source: Scientific American, Volume 295, Number 3, pag 57

 3.00 Electricity end-use efficiency
Other end-use efficiency
Passenger vehicle efficiency
Other transport efficiency
wedges
Carbon Emissions (billion tons a year)

Renewables
2.25 Carbon capture and storage
Other

1.50

0.75

0
1996 2006 2036 2056

Source: Scientific American, Volume 295, Number 3, pag 57

 WEDGES

25 billion
tons total
1 billion
ton a year
50 years
 transport
energy supply
buildings

POSSIBLE WEDGES
agriculture forests
waste
industry
FOSSIL FUELS

BIOMASS

BICYCLE
 U E L S
S I F
L
F O S
BIO M A S S
BICYCLE
 Make players discover wedges
Make them reason about possible mixes of wedges
Make them come up with a plan
Make experts judge their plan

PolyGame is a web-aided game

 PolyGame

baobab.elet.polimi.it/polygame
What is baobab.elet.polimi.it/polygame  for?

1 Game creation
you can contribute too!
2 ‘Wikipedia’ of wedges

PolyGame

baobab.elet.polimi.it/polygame
 PolyGame

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start playing
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To avoid dramatic climate change, we need to significantly curb current emissions by Login here
using a set of mitigation actions. Many of such actions are already available and span
from technological improvements (e.g. car efficiency), to natural sinks (forest User
preservation) or changes in individual and social behaviour (diet and transport).
Read more.... Password

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Wondering how to reduce emissions? or create a new account

Did you know you could reduce emissions with....

A correct diet

Bicycle

More efficient vehicles Show more...

brows e a l we d ge s
 PolyGame

baobab.elet.polimi.it/polygame Google

Photovoltaic
Introduction
Browse other wedges
The word photovoltaic (PV) is composed of two terms: Photo - Photon which means “light”
and Voltaic from ʻVoltʼ which is the unit used to measure electric potential at a given point.
Biomass
Photovoltaic systems use solar cells to convert sunlight (including ultra violet radiation) into
Bicycle usage
electricity. PV cells can be made from different so-called semiconductor materials. Today,
Car usage
silicon is the most common material, but other semiconductors, usually compound (made
Filters
from two or more elements), are also used.
Forestation
Meat consumption
Nuclear power
Wind power

PV systems can be used for homes, offices, public buildings or remote sites where grid
connection is either unavailable or too expensive. Such installations may be ground-
mounted or built into the roof or walls of a building, known as Building Integrated
Photovoltaics or BIPV for short.
The innovative PV array technology and mounting systems mean that PV can be retrofitted
on existing roofs or easily incorporated as part of the building envelope at construction
stage. Modern PV technology has advanced rapidly and PV is no longer restricted to square
and flat panel arrays but can be curved, flexible and shaped to the building design.
“Grid connected” means that the system is connected to the electricity grid. Connection to
the local electricity network allows any excess power produced to feed the electricity grid
and to sell it to the utility.
...
 PolyGame

baobab.elet.polimi.it/polygame Google

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 GAME STRUCTURE
1 LEARN A WEDGE
2 SHOW AND TELL
3 PLAN CREATION
4 FINAL VOTATION
 15 players

GAME EXAMPLE
 1 LEARN ABOUT A WEDGE

Each team is assigned to a wedge

FORESTATION BICYCLE USAGE WIND POWER

Each team studies the given wedge

and calculates the effort linked to the wedge

  i
 1 LEARN ABOUT A WEDGE

FORESTATION BICYCLE USAGE WIND POWER

PROVIDED TO THE TEAM (FORESTATION)

5 Mt-CO2eq/year: Wedge emission reduction (Italy)
5,5 t-CO2/ha/year: Storage of CO2 in the ground

CALCULATIONS

x = 5 * 10^6 / 5.5 = hectare to absorb CO2 of the wedge

x/100 = km^2 to absorb CO2 of the wedge
 1 LEARN ABOUT A WEDGE

FORESTATION BICYCLE USAGE WIND POWER

Pros and cons are summed up in a poster

PROs 1.of forest

deforests ation must be stopped or loss of 80%
2.CO2deforestemiastsiioonns is responsable for 20% of
CONs 1.regirealons ly hard to regulate deforestation in certain
2. long term action
 2 SHOW AND TELL
Each group shows its wedge to the others

THE PROS ARE...

THE CONS ARE...

FORESTATION BICYCLE USAGE WIND POWER

 3 PLAN CREATION
Groups are shuffled

TEAM A TEAM B TEAM C

Different backgrounds bring cultural clashes

Designers Designers Architects

Engineers Engineers
Architects Architects Designers
 3 PLAN CREATION

TEAM A TEAM B TEAM C

Each team comes up with a plan

14

10
9

6 6
5
4
3 3

Forestation Bicycle Wind Forestation Bicycle Wind Forestation Bicycle Wind

 4 PLAN VOTATION

Good! ? Not feasible!

Experts committee
14

10
9

6 6
5
4
3 3

Forestation Bicycle Wind Forestation Bicycle Wind Forestation Bicycle Wind

 spreads the knowledge
customizability

scalable (100+ players)

ready to be played
PolyGame is going to be played
· October 29th - November 7th, Genova
· November 11th, Milano, Rotonda Besana
 AVAILABLE NOVEMBER 2010
GET NOTIFIED! GET INVOLVED! JUST VISIT:
baobab.elet.polimi.it/polygame

FOR MORE INFORMATION EMAIL:

casagran@elet.polimi.it