Question

A small country emits 103,000 kilotons of carbon dioxide per year. In a recent global agreement, the country agreed to cut its carbon emissions by 5% per year for the next 14 years. How many total kilotons of carbon dioxide would the country emit over the course of the 14-year period, to the nearest whole number?

a) 77,507 kilotons
b) 52,447 kilotons
c) 84,720 kilotons
d) 92,307 kilotons

Answer 1

The total kilotons of carbon dioxide the country would emit over the 14-year period is approximately 52,447 kilotons. Option A is correct.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let's calculate the total emissions for each year and sum them up.

• Year 1: 103,000 * 0.95 = 97,850 kilotons
• Year 2: 97,850 * 0.95 = 93,207.5 kilotons
• Year 3: 93,207.5 * 0.95 = 88,977.125 kilotons

We can continue calculating for each year, but there's a shortcut: we can use the geometric series formula.

Total emissions = Initial emissions * (1 - reduction rate)^number of years

Total emissions = 103,000 * (1 - 0.05)^14

Total emissions ≈ 50,230.5228

Therefore, the total emissions over the 14 years would be approximately 50,230.5228 kilotons. Rounding to the nearest whole number, the answer is 50,231.

Unfortunately, none of the answer choices exactly match 50,231. The closest option is 52,447 kilotons, but it's an overestimate.

Therefore, the answer is b) 52,447 kilotons.