Question

A cement factory emits 900 kilograms of CO2 to produce 1,000 kilograms of cement. A fully grown tree removes six kilograms of CO2 per day from the air. One acre of land can support 200 mature trees. A company builds a factory that will produce 100,000 kilograms of cement. To make the factory carbon neutral, the owners need to grow trees over an area of land measuring acres.

Answer 1

To make the factory carbon neutral, the owners need to grow 15000 trees over an area of land measuring 75 acres

Explanation and solution;

From the information;

900 kg CO2 = 1000 kg Cement

1 tree = 6 kg CO2

1 acre = 200 trees

100000 kg Cement will require;

=(900 × 100000)/1000

= 90,000 kg of CO2

But 1 tree = 6 kg of CO2

Number of trees = 90,000/6

= 15,000 trees

But, 1 acre = 200 trees

Number of acres = 15,000/200

= 75 acres of land

Therefore;

To make the factory carbon neutral, the owners need to grow 15000 trees over an area of land measuring 75 acres

Answer 2

Since the factory will be producing 100,000 kilograms of cement, using the relation 1000 kg of cement = 900 kg of CO2, then the factory will be emitting 90,000 kg of CO2 at the same time. To counteract the emission, a tree can remove 6 kg of CO2 per day. Dividing 90,000 kg by 6 kg to know the number of trees, we need 15000 trees to counter the emission. Since 1 acre of land holds 200 trees, we need 75 acres of land to hold the 15000 trees.