A Unique and Innovative DIY By SEW & Froliq
A woman peers through goggles in a black helmet. The novel vision transports her to a new world with one prime responsibility- building the place ground up, a place that she calls home. No, this is not a god-like simulation, but indeed an overburdening duty to create a world that no longer has climate challenges. As tedious and mind-boggling as it sounds, there is a bit of levity.
Taddaaaaaaa
It is a twisted basketball challenge. Enter the video game. Ehh, Virtual reality with different levels of increasing complexities.
This world was co-created by SEW and Froliq and showcased at the 2022 WE3 Summit to push the urgent conversations around net zero so that every delegate leaves a lasting impact.
Conversations have the power to transform, but so is teleportation (we can say that, right?) to a new world has, infact an everlasting impact. The adrenalin rush of taking the right decision, seeing firsthand what kind of city the player is building, leaves imprints that extend well beyond the 45-mins panel sessions.
Nothing But Net Zero- VR experience is based on the mantra of Engage, Educate, amd Empower.
Engage players in Virtual Reality
Educate them about the impacts of daily life decisions on climate change and net-zero
Empower players to make intelligent decisions and build their community and even a city (higher levels, definitely)
There has to be a special focus on who these players are in the simulation. At least for the 2022 WE3 Summit, the players were global thought leaders and energy and water industry veterans who have spent decades and are actively, playing a crucial role in redefining the path the industry will be taking for the years to go. These leaders know firsthand what a world- a net zero world – should be. And in this VR, SEW+ Froliq took on the challenge to craft an experience that enabled them to build a net-zero world themselves and take a sneak peek into the future. The multiple climate change futures can be hard to grasp, but this immersive experience puts people there and helps drive informed decision-making.
Wait, we spoke a lot about the net-zero world. But what it entails?
Here are the details.
With the series of basketball challenges, the player builds a city, considering the net zero goals. In this immersive and ideal future ecosystem with EVs, DERs, smart cities, smart homes, circular economy etc., we gamify the net zero reality with many worlds of energy, water, transport, and cities/governments.
The player starts in a futuristic city. A host welcomes them to Climate Zero, the first city with zero pollution, and a short recap of how it was designed to help solve climate change through an abundance of caution. The problem is that the city needs more amenities, comfort, and humanity to attract people to live there. Therefore, the players are to create that environment while remaining Net Zero.
In front of the player are large basketball hoops, one labelled “Include / Deploy” and another one “Dismiss”. The host explains that the player will be given various items to add optionally to the city. In each timed round, several items are displayed for pickup. The player can throw each of them in their preferred hoops, and the items are added to the city. The emissions or the happiness change of their decisions is shown after scoring a point.
Each round also has a theme, which the host narrates. For example, transportation, energy, water, and government. As the rounds progress, so does the complexity increase.
In the end, there’s a running total for climate change and net zero, accumulated from all the previous players, to highlight how each player’s decision accrues over time. We ask for a pledge to offset their emissions to reduce climate change.
Bush fires in Australia, cyclones in the Pacific, droughts in Africa, floods in Southeast Asia, and melting glaciers in the Arctic. Climate change continues to make headlines, yet many people still find it hard to understand how billions of lives on our planet are connected, and action in one corner of the world has repercussions in the other. More so, ditching the morbid tonality, it is time we (world citizens) fully comprehend what net-zero means and feel empowered to act the right way.
With the VR experience, SEW+Forliq communicated the urgency of climate change and instilled the idea that billions of people on our planet, with the right digital tools and platforms, can help solve these challenges.
Understanding complicated issues like climate change require a shift in perspective regarding how we are willing to see the problem. We all have read the text and glanced over the headlines, but to emotionally connect and grasp the likely climate futures as the planet heats, both the dystopian and the potentially positive – the cheap, clean energy, thriving economies, and healthy nature and people-is possible today in the virtual reality.
Hopefully, concluding the 2022 WE3 Summit, every business leader will see the connected value chains and synergies to build a climate-positive world. In a modern world requiring lifelong learning, they take home the insights from Nothing but Zero and deploy the wins from virtual reality to real reality!
About SEW
SEW with its innovative and industry-leading cloud platforms, delivers the best Digital Customer Experiences (CX) and Workforce Experiences (WX), powered by AI, ML, and IoT Analytics to the global energy, water, and gas providers. At SEW, the vision is to Engage, Empower, and Educate billions of people to save energy and water. We partner with businesses to deliver platforms that are easy-to-use, integrate seamlessly, and help build a strong technology foundation that allows them to become future-ready.
Learn more here: www.SEW.Ai
