China-U.S. Collaboration Launches Powerful New Simulation

For over two years Climate Interactive has been working with Tsinghua University in China to create a learning tool to model the climate goals of Chinese provinces. Because of our work with Tsinghua, they have been able to provide the Chinese government with a new easy-to-use tool in order to meet their climate and energy goals.

China has committed to a 40-45% decrease in the carbon intensity of the overall Chinese economy by 2020. In order to meet this goal the Chinese government and provincial leaders set targets for the provinces to adjust their GDP, energy intensity, and fuel mix. To create true engagement from the leaders at all levels, however, there needed to be a shared understanding of how to reach these goals, and methods for calculating progress.

In order to create a tool to track the progress of the Chinese provinces, a team led by Professor Zhang Xiliang at Tsinghua University began using system dynamics models, the technology of which grew out of MIT Sloan School of Management and is behind C-ROADS. The system dynamics models are a contrast from the spreadsheet models that were used to set the targets, which are not geared towards flexible “what if” testing. What they sought was a user-friendly, interactive simulation such as C-ROADS, which has been used by multiple governments as part of the UN climate change negotiations. Professor Zhang’s Low Carbon Economy team had the data, an understanding of the Chinese energy system, and a staff of modelers to create the tool, but their partnership with the Climate Interactive team enabled them to put these elements together to create a successful model.

Join a Free Webinar – New Features in C-ROADS Climate Simulation

In response to the needs of our users, Climate Interactive has updated the C-ROADS climate policy testing software with a suite of new features and analytic abilities.

In this one-hour webinar, three model developers and analysts from the Climate Interactive team will introduce the new features, from new output windows, to sensitivity testing, to more control over underlying model assumptions. The session will be interactive, with ample time for questions and discussion. Drs. Travis Franck, Phil Rice, and Lori Siegel will lead the webinar.

Title: New Features in C-ROADS 3.0
Date: Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Time: 15:00 GMT (10:00 EST)

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/728788440

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Attendees will be able to receive a free copy of C-ROADS software.

High School Students in Vermont Experience World Climate

Climate Interactive’s Phil Rice recently ran our World Climate exercise for science and social studies students at St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont. Some of his reflections are below:

Students were eager to engage and asked good questions.

The students wouldn’t get aggressive about % reduction- best they’d offer was 2%. The Developed world was resistant to working with the other groups.

During the exercise and in the debrief, they did ask a lot of good questions and stayed engaged in the role play pretty well. An interesting question in the debrief was basically in the form of, “OK, but do you have a way we could simulate the effects of the changes we could make? Because that is what we need to know now.”

I got a lot out of working with these engaged young adults. They have a lot of energy and they are into learning.

Videos of the exercise at Dartmouth and elsewhere may be found on the Climate Interactive website.

The New C-ROADS Simulation Has Amazing Climate Analysis Capabilities

Check out this short video to view the new features of C-ROADS.

(Click on the “Vimeo” word in the bottom right corner to view a larger version)

The top five improvements:

1. Choose from 14 different reference scenarios, pulled from EMF and SRES

2. Create emissions scenarios by changing Carbon intensity

3. Land use emissions are disaggregated by country (thanks to primary research funded by Heinz Center and TCG)

4. Flexible analysis of historical contribution by country to cumulative emissions, radiative forcing, and temperature (this feature is amazing — watch the video….)

5. Flexible analysis of effects of uncertainty

Dr. Phil Rice of Climate Interactive created this short video describing our “new tricks.” The improvements were completed primarily by Dr. Rice, Dr. Tom Fiddaman of Ventana Systems, Dr. Lori Siegel of Climate Interactive, and Tony Kennedy of Ventana Systems, through a contract with the US DOE and funding from Zennstrom Philanthropies, ClimateWorks Foundation, the Morgan Family Foundation, and others.

Watch C-ROADS in Action: New How-To Intro Video Released

Check out the new C-ROADS “Getting Started” video created by Dr. Phil Rice. This video is the first in a series that helps users explore and utilize the features of our C-ROADS-CP policy-maker-based simulation, which is designed for climate policy analysts and is meant to support and complement use of more disaggregated models such as MAGICC, MINICAM, AIM, and MERGE. C-ROADS is the simulator used by the US State Department, other parties to the UNFCCC such as China, and analysts such as Trevor Houser.

To see the details in the simulation, watch the larger size version of the video here.