• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to footer

Press Media Release

press release distribution

  • Submit a Press Release
  • Market Wire
  • Make a Contribution
  • About
    • Template for press/media release
  • Contact

MIT technology simulates 100 years of energy, land and climate data in less than one second

December 3, 2019 By admin Leave a Comment

“Powerful simulators have fueled climate wonks for decades. This one works for users ranging from corporate CEOs and policy makers to smart eighth graders,” says Andrew Jones, co-founder and co-director of Climate Interactive.

The Sustainability Initiative at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Climate Interactive today launched a free, user-friendly version of their En-ROADS climate solutions simulator, which enables users to explore the impact of policies that will help limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius through 2100 with the goal of avoiding irreversible damage to the environment, global economy, and public health. The new software allows people with all levels of technical skills to simulate the interactions among energy, land, and climate through the end of the century in less than one second.

Through an intuitive interface, users move sliders to simulate the implementation of policies to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Options include policies affecting global energy demand from transportation and industrial, residential and commercial buildings; energy production from coal, oil, gas, biomass, renewables, and nuclear; emissions from deforestation, agriculture and land use; deploying technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere; and even future economic growth. Graphs show the results immediately, including global warming, greenhouse gas emissions, energy demand, production, and prices, along with many other outcomes.

While such tools have previously been developed for climate modelers and analysts, En-ROADS, a system dynamics model, is designed for policy makers, leaders in business and civil society, educators, and those interested in identifying high-leverage climate solutions.

“Research shows that showing people research doesn’t work,” says John Sterman, professor of System Dynamics at MIT and faculty director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. “En-ROADS allows people to learn for themselves by exploring how the policies they choose affect the energy system and climate. Users get instant results, allowing them to experiment with a wide range of assumptions and policies that can help limit global warming and build a healthy, prosperous future in which all people can thrive.”

An advanced mode allows users to set policies more precisely, such as the price of carbon, subsidies for efficiency or new technologies, and potential technical breakthroughs. All climate scenarios are sharable through social media and email.

Users can also vary a wide range of assumptions about the climate, economy and energy system, to see for themselves how sensitive their results are to uncertainty. In the background, En-ROADS simulates a system of non-linear differential equations representing the climate-energy-economic system.

The model complements, and is calibrated and tested against, other larger and more disaggregated energy and climate models such as those in the Energy Modeling Forum at Stanford University, and those creating the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, which are designed for use by researchers doing detailed analysis. Behind the simulator is an extensive study of the literature of important factors such as delay times, experience curves, price sensitivities, historic growth of energy sources, and energy efficiency potential.

Jones says that a number of business leaders and politicians from both political parties have had the opportunity to review En-ROADS in its beta phase and reported interest in more in-depth exploration. Simulation results from earlier versions of En-ROADS, he says, have counseled Heads of State, bipartisan U.S. Congress members, and companies such as Total, Equinor and HSBC, among others.

“This is a tool for grounded hope,” says Jones. “While there is no magic bullet to reverse climate change, we can still avoid its worst effects. En-ROADS allows people to build pathways to do so and discover new ways of framing the conversation.”

Sterman compares En-ROADS to simulators used in other settings. “Pilots learn to fly a new jet in simulators before going up in the real thing,” he says. “Surgical teams learn to work together in medical simulations. Power plant operators learn to handle potential emergencies in simulators. In these settings, and for climate change, failure is not an option. The En-ROADS simulator enables people to learn for themselves what it will take to avoid the worst consequences of global warming before it’s too late.”

Prof. Sterman, Jones and the team at Climate Interactive designed and lead the Climate Action Simulation, a group role playing activity where participants take on the roles of leaders in business, civil society, and government. Teams represent different groups who convene to negotiate agreements and policies to limit global warming. Participants propose and negotiate over different policies such as carbon prices, subsidies for low-carbon energy, energy efficiency standards, and investments in R&D, among others. Their proposals are then tested in En-ROADS, providing participants with science-based feedback on their policy and investment proposals.

A suite of materials can be downloaded for free to support people interested in using En-ROADS and running the role play in academic, business, and policy settings. An extensive reference guide to understanding the underlying equations is available as well to help users better understand the model.

The Climate Action Simulation builds on the successful World Climate International negotiation game developed by the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative and Climate Interactive, where participants play the role of delegates to the annual UN climate negotiations. Since 2015, more than 62,000 people in 93 nations around the world have participated in role-playing in the World Climate game, with research showing that this approach leads to significant gains in people’s knowledge of climate change, their belief that action is urgently needed, and their desire to take action in the real world.

The mission of the Sustainability Initiative at MIT Sloan School of Management is to deliver the best education, apply academic rigor to real world challenges, and empower leaders everywhere to take action, professionally, and personally, so that humans and nature can thrive for generations to come.

Climate Interactive is a think tank that creates tools and resources to help people explore what it takes to address climate change. Climate Interactive provides unique tools and analysis that distill complex science and data into forms accessible to a wide range of audiences with computer modeling, systems thinking, organizational learning, and cutting-edge facilitation practices.

The MIT Sloan School of Management is where smart, independent leaders come together to solve problems, create new organizations, and improve the world. Learn more at mitsloan.mit.edu.

SOURCE MIT Sloan School of Management
http://www.mitsloan.mit.edu

Filed Under: Press Release Tagged With: CLIMATE RESILIENCE, En-ROADS, MIT Sloan School of Management and Climate Interactive, Sustainability Initiative, climate change, climate solutions simulator

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Footer

Recent Posts

  • The Role of Forests in Climate Change Mitigation
  • U.S. Department of State, Bezos Earth Fund, and Rockefeller Foundation Announce Next Steps on Energy Transition Accelerator
  • Social Media Digest
  • COVID-19 Claims 2,000 Lives Per Week; 3 Critical Things Everyone Should Know
  • Economic Uncertainty Rising, 83% of Marketing Leaders to Prioritize Investments in Operational Efficiency and Hiring in 2023
  • PXEF.com adds new AI painting to art gallery: “Rich girl, poor girl in the swimming pool”
  • Market Research Media releases new market research report on the U.S. government market for low-code/no-code software
  • XRY, the MSAB extraction solution, comes with new features centered on ensuring the chain of custody of digital evidence
  • Ultisim Announces Advisory Board
  • Exclusive.org Announces Sale of Exclusive Domains

Media Partners

  • VPNW.com
  • OPINT
  • Digital Market
New Research Shows the Forces Behind the Worsening “Deskless” Worker Shortage
Globe Telecom Selects Netcracker Managed Services to Achieve Operational Excellence
How to leverage boredom to boost creativity
What is self-affirmation?
Rising young innovators
China’s proliferation of nuclear and missile-related technologies to other countries
Excellent CEOs spin 6 plates at once
BAE Systems Receives Concept Development Contract for OMFV Program
Featured domains of the day: CryptoExchng.com
Hammoq Raises $3M Seed Financing
Domains of the day: low-code-no-code.com
Don’t miss webinar about making publications more digital and interactive!
Putin Wants to Control Russian Internet
The 10th Global Blockchain Congress, July 11-12, 2022, Vietnam, Hanoi
KuCoin Becomes the First Crypto Exchange to Support BRL Transfers via PIX after New Central Bank Policy

Media Partners

  • Media Instances
  • PXEF.com
  • S3H.com
Disrespectful, noninclusive, unethical, cutthroat, and abusive
Pinocchio syndrome
Vikings: Valhalla Season 2
Have Container Shipping Rates Reached Bottom?
Rotating Man by Yasuhiro Suzuki
Rich girl, poor girl in the swimming pool
Ambiguity of classical Chinese makes it an ideal language for poetry
Digital gift ideas that you can consider
Hustling is about doing the most to the highest potential
How masculine defaults permeate the workplace
5G Brings New Threats and Opportunities to Cybersecurity Landscape
The Science of Dreams: Generative AI can drastically boost productivity by automating routine tasks
The China smartphone market has hit a decade-long low in 2022
Small Tech Companies Poised to Capitalize on Big Tech’s Recession-Driven Downsizing
World’s 10 cities with the worst air pollution

Copyright © 2022 PressMediaRelease.com

Sponsored by Exclusive Domains

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT