Renewable Challenges of Google

Grade level: 4th – 5th grades

Skills: Addition and Subtraction (3 – 4 digits)

Related environmental issues: Energy 

Google is a global leader in promoting the use of renewable energy and the company is now powered by 100% renewable energy. Due to those efforts, Google has been carbon neutral (making no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere) since 2007.

Screen Shot 2018-01-30 at 10.24.31 AM

1) In the end of 2017, Google announced that the company will expand its renewable energy use by buying wind-generated electricity from 3 states.  The company said it will buy 200 megawatts (MW) of wind power from Iowa, 196MW from South Dakota, and 140MW from Oklahoma.  How much of wind power will Google buy from those three states?

2) Google is the largest buyer of renewable energy and bought 2,397 MW of renewable energy in the United States. The second-largest buyer of renewable energy is Amazon, which bought 1,219 MW of renewable energy. How much more renewable energy did Google buy than Amazon did?

Sources: The AWEA blog & Bloomberg

Photo: Google, 2017 Environmental Report

 

 

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Answer keys

1. 200 + 196 + 140 = 536 (MW)

2. 2,397 – 1,219 = 1,178 (MW)