Grade level: 5th – 6th grades
Skills: Percentages
Related environmental issues: Energy
Renewable energy is energy made from natural resources such as wind, water and sunshine that technically never run out. Among renewable energy, people has long depended on water (hydropower) to generate electricity by using energy from falling water. Now, hydropower generates more than half of the total renewable energy generated in the world. The graph below shows the world’s 6 largest hydropower generating countries and their shares in the world in 2015.
- Which country generates the largest amount of hydropower?
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Which country generates about twice the amount of hydropower as India?
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The total amount of hydropower generated in the world was 1,064 gigawatts in 2015. How many gigawatts of hydropower was generated in the United States alone in 2015?
Source: REN 21, 2016. Renewables 2016 Global Status Report
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Answer keys
1. China
2. Brazil
3. 79.8 gigawatts
1,064 x 0.075 = 79.8