Copy and Paste Your Assignment Here1 Assignment 3 Description Marks out of Weighting (%) Assignment 3 40 20% Question 1 11 Marks Referencing is required In anticipation of the 2019/2020 Australian summer, with its expected high temperatures and increased bushfire risk, this assignment question will consider health effects of high temperatures and the poor air quality associated with bushfires. Part A Word limit 500 words 5 marks Heatwaves in Australia are becoming hotter, longer, and more frequent due to climate change. Heatwaves have caused more deaths in Australia over the last 100 years than any other natural event (Steffen, Hughes & Perkins, 2014). These deaths are typically under-reported. For instance, while most will remember the 173 people killed in the 2009 Black Saturday fires in Victoria, few will have noted the 432 excess deaths attributed to the South Australian and Victorian heatwaves experienced just prior to these fires (Gissing & Coates, 2018). Heat related illnesses include dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. a. What are the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion? b. What are the signs and symptoms of heat stroke? c. What sections of a population are most susceptible to heat related illnesses? d. Why is the humidity, as well as temperature taken into account when determining days of heat ‘danger’ or ‘extreme danger’? e. What precautions can people take during an extreme heat event to reduce the likelihood of heat related illness? Assignment Instructions This assignment should be TYPED. This assignment may be submitted one of two ways: a) Hardcopy with an accompanying coversheet, or b) Electronically, as a single PDF submitted via the Study Desk. Use APA referencing. 2 Part B Word limit 400 words 6 marks Air pollution can cause a range of deleterious health effects. The ‘Air Quality Index’ or AQI is a measure of air quality/pollution. Australia typically monitors 6 main air pollutants. • PM2.5 • PM10 • O3 • NO2 • SO2 • CO The measured value for each pollutant is converted into an AQI and the highest pollutant AQI at any one time is reported as the current AQI. One of the main causes of high levels of air pollution in Australia is bushfire smoke. This year’s Southern Australian Seasonal Bushfire outlook (Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC, 2019, p.1), states that: The 2019/20 fire season has the potential to be an active season across Australia, following on from a very warm and dry start to the year. Due to these conditions, the east coast of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, as well as parts of southern Western Australia and South Australia, face above normal fire potential. As bushfire smoke can have significant effects on the people’s health even if they reside some distance from the actual fire, it is important to be aware of its associated health effects. a. What sections of a population are most at risk from bushfire smoke? b. Describe the difference between PM2.5 and PM10. Include an explanation as why PM2.5 is more dangerous. c. AQI readings of above 150 were achieved during the 2018/19 summer bushfire season in Tasmania. i. What precautions should people take during an AQI alert of 165? ii. What precautions should people take during an AQI alert of 215? 3 Question 2 Short answer Questions 9 marks a. Describe what the difference is between weather and climate? (2 marks & 1 mark referencing) b. Describe ocean acidity and its effect on coral. (2 marks & 1 mark referencing) c. The health effects of air pollution come with a significant economic cost. The World Bank and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2016) estimated that in 2013, welfare losses in due to air pollution, given as a percentage of GDP equivalent, can vary from about 2.8% in North America up to over 7% for South Asia. Australia’s GDP for 2017-18 was $1 814 778 000 000 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2019). If the welfare losses due to pollution in Australia that year was 3.0%, estimate the value of the welfare losses. Show the calculation and give the answer in a sentence. (3 marks) 4 Question 3 (10 marks) The National Energy Market (NEM) covers the electricity generation and distribution of Queensland, NSW (including the ACT), Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia. Each of the five states, while interconnected, acts as separate generating and pricing regions. OpenNEM (2018) is a project that allows the National Electricity Market data for Australia to be publically available. The graphs (shown over the page) provide data on electricity generation and costings over a 7 day period from midday 10 September to midday 17 September 2018 for South Australia and Queensland NOTE: This question can be answered even if graphs are viewed in black and white. a. Using Figures 1a and 2a, complete the following table. Analysis of power generation and costings in Queensland and South Australia for a 7 day period from midday 26 September to 11:30am October 3, 2019 for South Australia and Queensland - A: South Australia Queensland i. Electrical energy generated (GWh) ii. Average value ($/MWh) iii. Percentage renewables (%) iv. Source generating the most power v. Average value of generating from the source given in (iv) ($/MWh) vi. Cheapest source generating at least 2 GWh vii. Average value ($/MWh) for the source given in part (vi) viii. Most expensive source generating at least 2 GWh ix. Average value ($/MWh) for the source given in part (viii) 5 b. Using Figures 1b and 2b complete the following table. Analysis of power generation in Queensland and South Australia for a 7 day period from midday 26 September to 11:30am October 3, 2019 for South Australia and Queensland - B South Australia Queensland i. Estimation of the most expensive price ($/MWh) over the week ii. Does the price ($/MWh) become negative at any stage? If so, on what day(s)? c. Prices ($/MWh) vary considerably over the day and over the week. Explain what changes and/or additions could be made in the overall NEM grid system to even out price highs and lows in the future. d. Greenhouse gas emissions from a coal power generator is estimated at approximately 1 kg CO2 equivalent/kWh (Canadian Nuclear Association, 2016). Calculate the approximate greenhouse gas emissions (kg CO2 equivalent emissions) from the use of coal for the given week in Queensland. Show calculation and then answer in a sentence. e. Assuming that the transmission lines could cope with a more widely distributed power generating network, and that the data provided is representative of the Queensland pricing, what effect would you expect to see in the average weekly values ($/MWh), if Queensland incorporated more solar and wind power. Explain your answer. 6 1a 1b Electricity generation and costings in South Australia for 7 days between midday 26 September to 11:30am October 3, 2019 (OpenNEM 2019b) Enlarged Tue 1 Oct 7 2a 2b Figure 2. Electricity generation and costings in Queensland for 7 days between midday 26 September to 11:30 October 3 2019 (OpenNEM 2019a) Enlarged Tue 1 Oct 8 Question 4 (10 marks) South Australia has more highly developed wind and solar power generation than the other mainland states. The data below provides details on the percentage of renewables and the average value for electricity for South Australia, over a 16 day period in June/July2019. (OpenNEM 2019c). Percentage of power from renewables versus average value ($/MWh) for South Australia for 16 days in June/July 2019 (OpenNEM 2019c). Date 2019 Percentage of power generation due to renewables Average value ($/MWh) June 22 29.0 111.63 23 25.9 123.60 24 51.1 106.13 25 28.6 121.20 26 46.9 97.81 27 74.1 32.80 28 78.6 51.47 29 77.7 55.83 30 69.8 51.69 July 1 66.2 65.40 2 26.0 101.55 3 26.0 100.91 4 56.2 78.95 5 62.0 68.63 6 73.3 62.32 7 43.1 86.69 a. Plot the data on a scatter plot. Plot the percentage of renewables on the x-axis and the average value ($/MWh) on the y-axis. Graph can be computer generated or hand drawn on graph paper and should be at least half an A4 page in size. b. Draw a single straight line of best fit for the data. c. Comment on the general trend of the data as shown by the line of best fit. 9 References Australian Government: Bureau of Meteorology. (n.d.-a). Annual mean temperature anomalies – Global (1850 – 2017) [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/#tabs=Tracker&tracker=timeseries. Australian Government: Bureau of Meteorology. (n.d.-b). Annual rainfall: Sydney (Observatory Hill) [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_display_type=dataGraph&p_stn_num= 066062&p_nccObsCode=139&p_month=13 Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC. (2019). Southern Australia Seasonal Bushfire Outlook: August 2019: Retrieved from https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/111255/australian_seasonal_bushfire_o utlook_august_2019.pdf.. Gissing, A & Coates, L. (2018). Heatwaves are Australia’s deadliest natural hazard and many of us are unprepared. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-18/heatwaves-australias- deadliest-hazard-why-you-need-plan/9338918. IPCC Working group I: The Physical Science Basis. (2007). 9.4.1.2 Simulations of the 20th Century [Image]. Retrieved from https://archive.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/wg1/en/ch9s9-4-1- 2.html. NASA. (2012). Changes in solar irradiation between 1975 and 2012 [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/energy-budget.html . National Centers for Environmental Information National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). (n.d.). How do we know the Earth’s climate is warming? [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/monitoring-references/faq/indicators.php. Steffen, W Hughes, L& Perkins, S. (2014). Heatwaves: Hotter, longer and more often, Retrieved from https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/uploads/9901f6614a2cac7b2b888f55b4dff9cc.pdf. Canadian Nuclear Association. (2016). Combatting climate change with nuclear power. Retrieved from https://cna.ca/news/combatting-climate-change-nuclear-power/. OpenNEM. (2018). OpenNEM: An Open Platform for National Electricity Market Data, Retrieved from http://opennem.org.au/#/all-regions, OpenNEM. (2019a). Electricity generation and costings in Queensland for 7 days between midday 26 September to 11:30 October 3 [Graph and data]. Retrieved October 3, 2019 from https://opennem.org.au/energy/qld1/. OpenNEM. (2019b). Electricity generation and costings in South Australia for 7 days between midday 26 September to 11:30 October 3 2019 [Graph and data]. Retrieved October 3, 2019 from https://opennem.org.au/energy/sa1/. OpenNEM. (2019c). Electricity generation and costings in South Australia for 16 days in June/July