Méthaval: the serious game on methanisation

Hosted on the ETINCEL educational platform and Teréga’s “2050, a world of renewable energies” platform, this serious game is a new resource aimed at developing the technology and business culture among young people, using the theme of biogas and its derivative, biomethane.

This strategy game employs an entrepreneurial approach to bring to life the different steps in the development of a methanisation project, and so raise awareness of the key stages needed to implement such a project. The game is tailored to secondary school pupils and university students, but it is also open to anyone who is curious to find out more about the biogas industry, in a hands-on way.

In Méthaval, you can take part in a public information meeting, create a list of the different inputs available in the region, define the best area in which to site the project, and even build the methanisation unit step by step.

In May, students attending the Bordeaux agricultural trade fair were given a sneak preview of the game and a look behind the scenes, and it will be incorporated into trainees’ programmes.

On the "2050 un monde d'énergies renouvelables et bas carbone" website, click on "Explorer" then "Serious game Méthaval" at the bottom left.

It is 2205. An ultra-perfected artificial intelligence has discovered how to travel through time. A troop of special agents sets off on a mission to develop renewable energies before it is too late, against a backdrop of climate change, energy transition and frugality. One of the agents travels back to 2023 to see how biogas is developing as a resource in a given territory. To do that, they must slip into the population and take on different roles. At the end of each mission, they will report back to the artificial intelligence.

In an agreement from October 2019, the French National Education and Youth Ministry’s Digital Education Directorate engaged AFDET to steer the project to create an educational resource in the form of a serious game, to raise awareness of jobs and activities in the energy sector among secondary school students. Against the backdrop of the ecological and energy transition, the chosen subject was a renewable energy source produced from organic waste: biogas.

The game was developed with partners to cover all subject areas associated with the theme: Teréga, as industrial partner, the Tarbes Campus, which covers jobs and qualifications in energy transition, Réseau Canopé, for educational input into the construction of the game, and the Saint-Sever-de-Rustan methanisation unit, to ensure the game is as close as possible to the realities of such an operation. As for the digital creation of the serious game, this was entrusted to a company called NUMIX.

• 1st stage: awareness of the impact of human activities on the environment

• 2nd stage: consideration of territorial constraints

• 3rd stage: formulation of the methanisation project

• 4th stage: creation of the methanisation unit