Question

The Tennessee Valley Authority's coal-fired Kingston plant in Tennessee generates 10 billion kilowatt-hours a year by burning 13,000 metric tons of coal a day, supplying electricity to almost 700,000 homes. If all of the 7.7 billion metric tons of coal consumed worldwide in 2015 was converted to electricity, it would have produced approximately _____ billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Assume the same efficiency as the Kingston plant.

Answer 1

Approximately 16228 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity will be produced.

Step-by-step explanation:

According to the statement, yearly energy production is directly proportional to amount of carbon to be burnt. Then, we proceed to estimate the yearly energy production from worldwide coal consumption (
`E`), in kilowatt-hours, by simple rule of three:

`E = 10* 10^(9)\,kWh* (7.7* 10^(9)\,ton)/(4.745* 10^(6)\,ton)`

`E = 16228* 10^(9)\,kWh`

Approximately 16228 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity will be produced.