Skip to content

… the historical name of Zernez

Be part of the solution for a sustainable world and join this real case simulation to create an entire CO2 neutral region together with your team!

Image: SNP/Hans Lozza
The village Zernez was first mentioned in 1161 under its ancient name Sarnetz, and is located it the Eastern part of Switzerland in the canton of Graubünden. Although no longer in use, the village’s old name was revived, and serves as abbreviation and domain name for this website: Simulation-gAme EneRgia2020 for CO2–NEuTral Zernez (SARNETZ)
SNP/Hans Lozza
Image: SNP/Hans Lozza

About the Virtual Board Game

In this virtual board game, participants compete in two groups, each with roles of five different stakeholders (e.g. inhabitants, utility company, and three members of the municipal council responsible for CO2-emissions, energy, and finances). Each group will develop its own ideas and approaches to turn the Swiss mountain region Zernez into a carbon-free area. The team will discuss on decisions that have to be jointly made on investments and on the redesign of infrastructure for energy supply. At the end of the game, an expert will analyze and compare the elaborated solutions of both groups, announcing the winner and provide constructive feedback.
How to play

Challenge & Goal

Everyone on this planet is affected by the advancing climate change: global temperature and sea levels are on the rise, glaciers are melting and extreme weather conditions causing natural disasters occur more often in all parts of the world alongside many other events that heavily impact our lives. In order to mitigate climate change, we have to find sustainable solutions to drastically reduce the emission of CO2. The virtual board game aims at raising the next generation’s awareness for these issues. Participants will not only acquire knowledge about sustainability, but will also understand that interdisciplinary approaches are necessary for meeting the objectives–including experts from technical to social and economic fields as well as everyone else.
SNP/Hans Lozza
Image: SNP/Hans Lozza
SNP/Hans Lozza
Image: SNP/Hans Lozza

Background & Organizers

The initial board game was developed as part of «Zernez ENERGIA 2020» by an interdisciplinary research team of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) together with private partners and the local authority, and its implementation is still in progress.

Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) has taken this real case simulation as an education tool for a broader audience, by making it first user friendly and now making it virtual; continuously upgrading the tool to reflect ongoing progress in the village of Zernez.

Since 2016, HSLU has been hosting workshops around the physical real-world board game across Switzerland, going abroad in 2017 at the occasion of the exhibition Astana Expo in Kazakhstan.

In 2021, for the first time the workshops are held online in a joint effort with the Science & Technology Office Tokyo – as part of the Swissnex network – initially for Japanese students in September 2021, later on for visitors of the Expo 2020 Dubai, U.A.E. and starting 2022 for interested individuals from around the world.

More

Organizers of Sarnetz

About Zernez Energia 2020

Sponsors