Grade level: 4th – 5th grades
Skills: multiplication and division
Related environmental issues: Energy
Denmark is blessed with an abundance of wind and became a pioneer and a leader in wind power technology in the world. It was reported that 43.6% of electricity was generated by wind power in Denmark in 2017. The wind turbines in Denmark generated as much as 14,700 GWh (giga-watt-hour) of electricity in a year.
Photo) Offshore wind farm in Denmark
- How much wind power in GWh did Denmark generate in one month during 2017?
- How much wind power in GWh did Denmark generate in one day during 2017? (Use 1 month = 30 days) Round to the nearest one.
- With 1 GWh of electricity, about 33,400 households* in the United States can use electricity for a day. There are about 1,360,000 households in Connecticut. Is the wind power in Denmerk big enough to supply electricity to the entire household in Connecticut or not? Explain.
Sources: 1) Renewables Now 2) Statista, Number of households in the United States in 2016, by state (in millions)
Photo: The official website of Denmark
* According to U.S. EIA, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 897 kWh per month in 2016 (EIA, 2017)
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Answer keys
1. 14,700 ÷ 12 = 1,225 (GWh)
2. 1,225 ÷ 4 = 40.83… ⇨41 (GWh)
3. Yes. 33,4000 x 41 = 1,369,400
1,369,400 > 1,360,000