Are you thinking about running Energy Islands?

How many participants?

The exercise works best with 6-8 participants per Island or 15-24 students per world. If you have a larger cohort then you might consider running the exercise with parallel worlds – this isn’t as complicated as it sounds.

How many tutors?

Ideally you will have a team of four tutors, one to overview the exercise and one each to look after the Islands. The exercise can be run with one tutor if they are confident in the process and the subject.

What do I need to run the exercise?

The entire exercise is run from a briefing pack that each team of participants receives – this is bespoke to the island they have been assigned. The exercise doesn’t require any special equipment, although AV to introduce the exercise is helpful.

Space requirements

Energy Islands runs best when all the participants can be accommodated in a single room (e.g. an assembly hall). It requires sufficient space for the students to work in their teams (tables for each island are recommended) and enough space for groups of participants move around and negotiate in. Ideally a space for the formal World Council meetings should also be available within the same room – the more formal these meetings can be made to feel, the better.

Knowledge requirements

Participants do not require a detailed knowledge of energy systems/technologies as the exercise can be used an opportunity to brief them on these aspects. More knowledgeable participants should be pushed harder to think through system level issues with their proposals and to back up their proposals with evidence (e.g. numbers).

Time requirements

Energy Islands can be run in as little as two hours, or over an entire week. In the most tested version the exercise runs over a four hour period (including briefing and debriefing). It can be run as a standalone exercise or can be incorporated into a wider programme, such as Grad School, an energy module, etc.

Go back to different versions of Energy Islands.