What about a gaming interface for middle school kids to coordinate and optimize their local and regional energy infrastructure?
Due to the public utility structure, the vast majority of data inputs are openly available. Utilities could be forced into facilitating direct link supply/demand data points and nearly real-time usage information down to transformer level. A living environment based on all the real physical attributes/limitations of the gird could be built out within an online gaming platform, then kids use various tools to collaborate, modify and optimize it. Swap out power plants for renewables, upgrade transformers, identify energy storage needs, leverage inter-regional load balancing, etc.
Potential kid-generated solutions could be vetted within the platform by state/local/utility/parent resources, and then actual real world grid infrastructure changes could be approved and implemented by the utility. So long as the inputs, outputs, costs and all limitations in between are physically accurate, there could be no argument against adopting these more "optimized realities".
How insane would that be? Taking a gaming effort into the real world would be so tangible that I think kids would go nuts once they saw a couple trucks rolling and real changes happen.
Very necessary grid changes are being held back by vested fossil/utility interests, confusion on direction, and public indifference due to lack of information. Gamers could lay all that out and make regional solutions clear essentially for free.
Due to the public utility structure, the vast majority of data inputs are openly available. Utilities could be forced into facilitating direct link supply/demand data points and nearly real-time usage information down to transformer level. A living environment based on all the real physical attributes/limitations of the gird could be built out within an online gaming platform, then kids use various tools to collaborate, modify and optimize it. Swap out power plants for renewables, upgrade transformers, identify energy storage needs, leverage inter-regional load balancing, etc.
Potential kid-generated solutions could be vetted within the platform by state/local/utility/parent resources, and then actual real world grid infrastructure changes could be approved and implemented by the utility. So long as the inputs, outputs, costs and all limitations in between are physically accurate, there could be no argument against adopting these more "optimized realities".
How insane would that be? Taking a gaming effort into the real world would be so tangible that I think kids would go nuts once they saw a couple trucks rolling and real changes happen.
Very necessary grid changes are being held back by vested fossil/utility interests, confusion on direction, and public indifference due to lack of information. Gamers could lay all that out and make regional solutions clear essentially for free.
