Hydrogen rush could shift world energy order

In a small room in Delft, Netherlands, a group of engineering students ponder what energy systems might look like in 2050. Across the North Sea in Stavanger, Norway, students of international relations consider how the world order might shift if there were universal access to renewable energy.

The engineers know little about geopolitics, the IR students little about energy technology.

They’re undertaking a green policy simulation: each represents a fictional country grappling with the energy transition and lays out how they would deliver it, balancing the interests of their citizens with those of the world. Some of the fictional countries are dependent on fossil fuels, others are blessed with abundant renewables.