Systems thinking · Stage 4 Science
This is a causal loop diagram of a hydro-electric system. Every pill is something that can go up or down, every arrow is one thing pushing on another, and the loops are where the system feeds back into itself. Drag the map to move it, scroll to zoom, or isolate one loop at a time.
Click a loop to isolate it. Everything else fades back.
Legend
A causal loop diagram only works if you can read the grammar. There are nine marks on this map and that's all of them.
The interesting part
A loop is a chain of arrows that comes back to where it started. Balancing loops settle down. Reinforcing loops run away. This system has both, which is why it is hard to manage.
The blue chain
Seven ideas, following one drop of water from the top of the reservoir to a plug in a house. These are the nodes running clockwise around the B1 loop.
The purple loop
A pumped hydro scheme that turns the same water into a battery, and the reason there is a second balancing loop on this map at all.
The part that nearly stopped it
Before Snowy Hydro was allowed to build any of this, they had to write a report on everything the project might damage and put it on public display so people could object. New South Wales approved the main works on 20 May 2020.
Harvard referencing
Every number, date and claim on this site traces back to one of these. Nine sources, Harvard author–date style, listed alphabetically.