The Energy Chessboard: A Policy Simulation
What this project is really about
The world's shift to clean energy is often described as if it were a simple switch to flip. It is not. It is a high-stakes game played on a crowded board — a chessboard where every move on energy interacts with the economy, jobs, international relations and the climate. A country cannot simply 'turn off' coal or oil overnight: millions of livelihoods, the price of electricity, and even national security can depend on it. How can a developing nation transition toward a sustainable energy infrastructure while simultaneously meeting the immediate economic demands and geopolitical realities of its current fossil-fuel dependency? In The Energy Chessboard, each student becomes a policy advisor to the government of a developing nation of their choosing. Over three weeks, they will research that country's real energy situation, study how recent shocks — such as the West Asian Crisis and the resulting swings in oil and gas prices — expose its dependencies, and then design a realistic 5-year plan to move it toward a more sustainable energy future. The catch: the plan must keep the lights on, keep energy affordable for ordinary families, honour the country's climate commitments, and survive a world that does not always cooperate. This is a project about evidence, trade-offs and judgement — the everyday work of real policymaking.
What you'll walk away knowing how to do
This project isn't about memorising facts. It's about building capabilities that transfer — to your next project, your next class, and beyond.
Learn from people who do this for a living
You're not learning from a textbook. You're learning from practitioners.
Lurion De Mello
Professor
Prof. Lurion De Mello is an expert in finance and energy economics at Macquarie Business School, Australia. His research focuses on energy markets, commodity pricing, and financial risk management, with a particular emphasis on renewable energy transitions and global oil markets. He has published extensively in leading academic journals and...
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