This is a ‘lite’ white paper to explain how Megawatt was developed. It is intended for readers with an interest in the methodology behind the statistics and gameplay, and to support the credibility of Megawatt as an educational resource. The aim of this methodology is to be as transparent as possible as to the source of the numbers in the game. As with any simplification, there are a number of different ways to interpret the data.
Contents
Megawatt is a STEM card game that challenges players to build an electricity grid. To win, players must maximise the power of their grid while minimizing its impact, with a limited amount of coin to spend. This approach is modelled from the energy trilemma, the classic problem for energy planners who need to balance the conflicting factors of security of supply, sustainability and cost.
Megawatt aims to introduce players to this challenge and teach the importance of systems thinking when building an electricity grid. It also demonstrates how electricity generation is related to weather, climate, political and technological developments. Ultimately, the aim of the game is to make the topic of energy fun and engaging, inspire curiosity in sustainable energy, and green the curriculum to attract new talent to the energy sector.
Megawatt started out covering a far wider range of concepts and technologies. Through an iterative approach, these concepts were simplified and refined to maintain the key teaching aspects, while keeping it fun for our target audience. Early prototypes were tested with colleagues, followed by teachers, and then in classrooms. The version you see today is a result of many, many playtests with a wide range of people.
Technology cards represent types of electricity generation and form the core of the game. Megawatt has 7 different types, and together they account for 96.5% of global electricity generation in 2022. These are Biomass, Coal, Gas, Hydro, Nuclear, Solar and Wind. The main energy source missing from the game is Oil, which accounts for 3.1% of global electricity generation. Oil was intentionally left out of the game because it is largely used in one of two situations: On island nations which require high flexibility and ease of storage, and countries with high domestic supplies of oil also burn it for electricity. Outside of these use cases, oil is rarely used for electricity, as it is more valuable when used for transportation or for oil-derived products. Fossil fuels are well represented in the game, and it was decided to leave out oil to simplify gameplay.
Some other well-known sources of renewable electricity were also left out of the game – tidal, wave and geothermal. Put together, these account for just 0.35% of global electricity generation and are not forecast to have any significant growth in the next few years, apart from in some niche locations and use cases.
Despite not being in the game, oil, tidal and geothermal have been included in our technology factfiles to support our lesson plans for classroom learning.
Each technology has three key stats associated with it: Power, Impact and Cost. These were calculated using real-world data as described below. All stats are within a range of 1-5. Different ranges were tested, from 1-3 up to 1-10, to establish the range that would best demonstrate the differences between energy sources, while keeping the game as simple as possible.
There are many different sources and methodologies for calculating the cost and impact of each technology type. We used the standard measure of LCOE (Levelized Cost Of Electricity) and used data from a World Bank report published in 2020. It is worth noting that the costs of solar and wind have rapidly decreased since this report was published.
The Impact of each technology type was mainly calculated using the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions calculated by the IPCC. This data was standardized to fit into a range between 1 and 5, with the following results:
| Technology Type | World Bank LCOE (£/KWh) | IPCC gCO2/KWh | Standardized cost (1 – 5) | Standardized impact (1-5) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Biomass | 81 | 230 | 4.9 | 2.1 | | Coal | 75 | 820 | 4.2 | 5.0 | | Gas | 67 | 490 | 3.2 | 3.4 | | Hydro | 48 | 24 | 1.0 | 1.1 | | Nuclear | 82 | 12 | 5.0 | 1.0 | | Solar | 52 | 48 | 1.5 | 1.2 | | Wind | 51 | 12 | 1.4 | 1.0 |