Assignment 4 The Last One, Worth More Points than previous ones

Due: Thursday August 13 by 11 PM

1. Your social media group insists that global warming applies to summers only so that obviously Oregon summers are getting warmer and setting records and of course, this is why there are so many wildfires.
   
   Now your tasked with using data to test those claimes.
   
   Data Source: Make maps here
   
   
   The above link should default to the April - June 2020 rank maps of all 50 states. This shows that over that period of time the average temperature of Oregon was 105 (that is its rank)
   
   There are 2020-1895 = 125 years available to define the rank and therefore these year, the average temperature ranked was 105/125. If this year was the hottest ever then the rank would be 124 (and color of the state would be Red). As you see from the map the highest ranked state was Florida at 120. The color coding for the Oregon indicateds qualitatively that the temperatue was "above average").
   
   Now you have what you need to interpret the maps you make and make them for all four seasons. For summer you want to select August in the Month; Fall would be November; Winter would be February; spring would be May.
   Start in the year 2010 and start winter. So your settings should be year = 2010; month = February. Hit the submit button. if Oregon shows rank 92 then all is well.
   To counter your social media group, make a table of each year from 2010 to 2020 and for each season tabluate if its above,much above or near record or below, much below, or near record. Submit that table as part of the assignment.
   
   Now based on those results, write a 200 word summary to share with your social media group if its indeed true that global warming in Oregon means consistently hotter summers.
   
   
2. In the following please remember the difference between electrical power and electrial energy use. Energy = Power x Time; Often time annual electrial energy use will be reported in units of Millions of Mwh hours. Divide that number by the total number of hours per year, 8760, to convert that to Power.
   
   There are 8 major hydro electric dams on the Columbia + Snake River that are thought to impeded the bulk of the salmon flow. These dams are 1) Bonneville, 2) The Dalles, 3) John Day, 4) McNary, 5) Ice Harbor, 6) Lower Monumental, 7) Little Goose and 8) Lower Granite.
   
   
   a) Research and report on the nameplate capacity of each of these dams. That information can be found most easily using this resource
   
   
   • Select Electricity Generation as the option to display
   • Select Water as the option to display
   • Mouseover to find nameplate capacity for each of the dams listed above. (for instance, Dalles = 1820 MW)
   
   
   Note that nameplate capacity represents the maximum theoretical power output of a plant. Actual generation of power depends on the seasonal flow of the rivers. Net generation is always less than nameplate capacity for renewables. For fossil fuel plants they generally operate near nameplate capacity.
   
   b) In 2018 Oregon required 16,600 MWs of electrical power. In 2018 Washington required 31,000 MWs of electrical power. Calculate and report the contribution of the first 4 dams to the total percentage of Electricity Generation for Washington and Oregon assuming operation at full nameplate capacity (this will be changed in question 3 below)
   
   c) Dams 5-8 only benefit Washington State. What is the extra percentage contribution of the existence of these 4 dams to the total electricity profile of Washington State?
   
   
   
   
3. The growth of wind energy in Oregon and Washington
   
   
   a) Do some online research and determine the rate of wind energy growth in Oregon and Washington since the year 2010. Make a graph of this data along with the growth rate shown on that graph (note that wind energy growth is generally not smooth from year but can take a big yearly jump as a single new large wind farm comes on line, followed by a couple of years of no growth - this is that makes predicting the future difficult).
   
   b) From that rate predict the installed wind capacity in both WA and OR in the year 2030 (show your process)
   
   
   
   c) Research the amount that stream flow has been reduced in the columbia river basic since 2000 as a result of our changing PNW climate and determine what fraction of nameplate capacity is now being utilized.
   
   Given this reduce stream flow, how much does this change the percentages for Oregon and Washington calculated in question 2.
   
   d) Based on that calculation, write a 150 word "Blog" style argument on the feasibility of removing some of these dams because of the eventual repacement wind power by the year 2030.
   
   
   
   
4. Currently there is much attention being devoted to replacing gasoline with some alternative as a primary fuel. Currently there is much hype (e.g. Elon Musk) about ramping up the production of electric vehicles via the planned Telsa GigaFactory with an eventual planned production of 500,000 vehicles annualy. There are numerous studies on the lithium supply chain/problem, etc that you can easily find via a Google Search. Two examples are here:
   
   
   • Example 1
   • Example 2
   
   
   You are to access a variety of reports as this is a controversial subject and in a 300 word report, argue whether or not Telsa will have enough lithium for its battery packs to reach their eventual production goal.
   
   
5. Various countries in the world have different climate change related risks. Some of this is discussed in the last topic in Module 5 on Differential Adaptation. From table 4 in that section, select one country of your choice, and its population must be larger than 25 million, and write a small report on what that countries main vulnerabilities are to climate change. At the end of that report, assess whether or not that country can overcome the climate change impacts that it faces.
   
   
6. Write an essay of not more than 300 words on what you think the combined broad message is in terms of humanity's continuing war/impact on Nature and how to stop it as given by these two viewpoints:
   
   
   Shiva
   
   Hedges
   
   
   To properly do this essay, you need to pay attention and to hear what these two people are saying. They are not spewing drivel and idle chit-chat crap and they are worth listening too in a uni-tasking manner.