Overview
Is it feasible to get a real time indication of the heat wave and provide a warning?[a similar system for Tsunamis exists here 7]”. This would be the first step to build an interpretable energy supply chain model with simulation capabilities. Using data, we can understand regions in India that are prone to heatwaves. These can indicate the expected demand fluctuations and will help to prepare an availability of energy across regions and time, coupled with an understanding of the ‘fuel availability mix’ thus allowing for an optimization framework. Fuel can include renewable resources, non-renewable resources, and emerging energy sources, like hydrogen for example, with their own efficiencies, availability, potential, and challenges.
Background
Recorded heatwave globally
Heat waves are often called a silent killer and have become even more important as recent studies suggest that heat waves have become the second most devastating extreme weather event with respect to human deaths and losses. In 2022, India recorded its hottest March. The State of India’s Environment Report 2022 stated that heat-wave-like conditions prevailed across 16 states of India from March 11 to April 24, 2022.
The heat waves that occurred during the summer of 2022 had a far-reaching impact. The extreme temperatures were accompanied by droughts that severely affected Europe and even the Yangtze River basin in China. The extremely high temperatures and severe drought also contributed to massive wildfires across Europe, North America, and Asia.
Heat waves impact the human body
As the intensity of heat waves increase, it raises the risk of wet-bulb temperatures (combination of heat and humidity) also going up. If this happens, it will push some heat events into "unsurvivable" territory, experts say.
When the wet-bulb temperatures exceed the normal temperature of the human body sweat cannot evaporate and humans can no longer cool themselves down. This can be fatal to the human body and lead to catastrophic events in large numbers across populations.
The link to power
Air conditioning and ventilation would be a potential solution to the increasing heat waves. Across the world, as per IEA, of the 44% of the population that is exposed to the hot climate, only 35% have access to air conditioning. In India, 12% of India’s 1.4 billion citizens have access to air conditioning. This means that here are hundreds of millions of people who will simply be unable to cool themselves when their bodies reach the point of heatstroke in the event of a heatwave.
These climate change-induced droughts affect hydropower and lead to power shortages in some areas. Wildfires due to heat waves can destroy infrastructure for power generation and distribution. Severe imbalance in power usage has also led to grid events which can cause power outages, further aggravating the problem.
Moreover, increasing power demand, if fulfilled by fossil fuel energy sources, would lead to increasing climate change thereby creating a negative feedback loop.
Tech stack
- Open to all
- Use cloud services for project deployment
Submission guidelines
These components must be available in your final submission:
- Project description (mandatory)
- Repository link (Github link, mandatory)
- Demo video of the project
- PPT and related documents of the project (mandatory)
0fc7941c706711.webp)
