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Examine the carbon emissions from UK's electricity generation

Calculate the carbon load of the National Grid (the mix of fuels and energy sources generating electricity for our country)

10 KS3 KS4 Humanities Mathematics and Numeracy
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Spot the odd one out!

Now have a look at these three charts showing the same period of time from one school.  The first chart shows how the cost of the electricity, the second shows how much electricity has been used in kWh and the third shows the carbon dioxide emitted by that use.

Which of these charts is not like the others? 


You may have noticed that, whereas the cost and the kWh charts align quite closely, the carbon emissions of school electricity use can sometimes be wildly different.  Before reading on, think why that might be.

Calculating the carbon emissions for gas use is straightforward.  It's more complicated when calculating the carbon emissions from electricity because the electricity we use is generated from a variety of fuels and sources, and from day to day - minute to minute in fact this changes.

Work through the activity video, look at the fantastic Carbon intensity website and then have a go at our activity sheet.

Objectives: 
  • use appropriate calculation strategies to solve increasingly complex problems
  • Solves multiplication problems working with whole numbers and decimal fractions to three decimal places
 

Download resources

Carbon intensity presentation

Carbon intensity worksheet
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