Climate Change: A Guide To Teachers Of All Disciplines

Assignment 3

This assignment is designed to help you think about different sources of energy and power. It
incorporates concepts dealing with sources of energy and its consumption and compares
traditional and renewable sources of energy. Further, this assignment is designed to provide a
useful link between consumption of renewable and non-renewable forms of energy with the
choices that we (as individuals or as nations) make.

Some portions of this assignment are modified from Global Warming: Understanding the
Forecast by David Archer.

A joule is an amount of energy and a watt is a rate of using energy where

1 Watt= 1 Joule / second.

1. Calculate how much energy (in joules) is required to light a 100 Watt incandescent bulb
for 1 day.
Hint: Calculate seconds in 1 day = 86400 or 8.64 X104
Then the energy (in Joules) required to light 1 Watt = 8.64 X104 X 1
Then the energy (in Joules) required to light 100 Watt bulb =8.64 X104 X 100 or
8.64X10^6 Joules

2. Assume that the source of energy that powers this bulb is coal energy (burning of coal).
Burning coal yields about 30 x 106 Joules of energy per kg of coal burned. Assume that the
coal power plant is only 30% efficient.
How many kg of coal has to be burned to light the incandescent bulb for one day?

Hint: 1 kg of burning coal produces 30 X 106 Joules

Since it is only 30 % efficient, 1 kg of burning coal produces = 30/100 X 30 X 106 J
= _______Joules.
1 kg of coal of coal burning produces = x Joules
How many kg of coal needs to be burned to produce 8.64X10^6 Joules i.e. to light just one
100 Watt bulb

3. Suppose a household keeps 5 incandescent bulbs of 100 W each on for 6 hours in a day.
Calculate the energy (in joules) and the amount of coal burned (in kg) that this house
consumes in 1 day.

4. In the recent past, events such as 'Earth Day' attempts to increase consciousness of issues
dealing with energy consumption. During such events, cities are often asked to switch off all
appliances and lights for 1 day.
Calculate the total energy (in joules) a city like Pune may save if it did not use any light bulbs
for 1 day.
Also calculate the amount of coal (kg) which would not be burned if the city did not use light
bulbs for 1 day.
Assume that the population of Pune is approximately 5.5 million people (Census 2010) and
that there are 3 members per house. Further, assume that 20% of houses in Pune do not have
electricity and that the houses that do have electricity light 5 bulbs of 100 W for 6 hours a
day.