FRQ Practice: Renewable Energy

Last updated over 3 years ago

7 questions

Directions: Write your answers in the spaces provided. Where calculations are required, clearly show how you arrived at your answer. Where explanation or discussion is required, support your answers with relevant information and/or specific examples.

Electricity can be produced from a variety of fuels and methods.
Although producing electricity from burning fossil fuels, such as in coal-fired power plants, is common around the world, some scientists and economists argue that where the geography is appropriate, hydroelectric power is a better method for generating electricity.

Describe one advantage of using hydroelectric power plants over using coal-fired power plants.

Describe one disadvantage of using hydroelectric power plants.

In some areas, hydroelectric power is not geographically appropriate and a different renewable energy source would be a better option. A conservation group is looking for renewable energy sources other than hydroelectric energy that could be used to generate electricity in grassland ecosystems, such as in the midwestern United States or in a savanna in Africa.

Propose a different renewable resource to use that would be a realistic solution to generating electricity without using fossil fuels or hydroelectric power in a grassland ecosystem.

Justify the solution proposed in the previous answer by explaining a potential advantage of using a different renewable resource to generate electricity.

Use this information for following the questions.
A typical house in the U.S. uses about 10,900 kWh (kilowatt-hour) of electricity per year.
1 TWh (terawatt-hour) = 1 x 106 GWh (gigawatt-hour) = 1 x 109 kWh (kilowatt-hour)
For any question asking to show work, you may type in your answer or insert a picture of your work.

One recent cost analysis report indicates that electricity from hydroelectric power can be produced for about $0.05 per kWh, while electricity from conventional coal-fired power plants can be produced for an average of about $0.11 per kWh. Calculate the percent change in the cost of electricity for a typical house resulting from a switch between conventional coal-fired power plants to hydroelectric power. Show your work.

In a typical coal-fired power plant, 2,460 kWh of electricity can be produced per ton of coal burned. Calculate how many tons of coal would have to be burned in a typical coal-fired power plant to provide the electricity for a typical house in the U.S. for a year. Show your work.

The world’s largest hydroelectric power plant is the 22.5 gigawatt (GW) Three Gorges Dam in China. It produces about 90 TWh of electricity each year. If a hydroelectric plant with the same capacity as the Three Gorges Dam was built in the U.S., calculate how many houses such a plant would be able to provide the electricity for in a year. Show your work.