General Studies | Energy and Renewables: Turbine Output and Carbon Lesson Plan

2026-11-04

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Primary General Studies

Children say solar is green, but ask how much a 400 W panel makes in a year and whether it runs a home, and they are stuck. This lesson makes them compute in units instead of repeating slogans.

Objectives — Students can: (1) sort energy into renewable and non-renewable with examples; (2) compute annual output from power and time (kWh); (3) compare carbon footprints using a per-kWh factor.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Power and energy	Is 1000 W for one hour one unit?	Yes, 1 kWh
Decimal multiplication	Roughly 2 × 8760 × 0.3?	About 5256
Units	How many kilograms in a tonne?	1000

02 Lesson flow (60 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0–5 min	Hook with a bill	Read the units used on an electricity bill	Estimate home use
5–12 min	Quick prerequisite check	Three quick questions on power and units	Answer orally
12–22 min	Act 1 Two columns	Sort examples into renewable and not	Give three examples each way
22–30 min	Act 2 Output sum	2 MW turbine × 8760 h × 30%	Reach 5.26 million kWh
30–36 min	Act 3 Carbon	0.7 kg CO2 per kWh coal versus wind	Convert to tonnes
36–50 min	Timed practice (14 min)	Two questions, seven minutes each	Work independently
50–55 min	Peer review	Swap and check units	Spot a missing kWh
55–60 min	Exit check	Three oral questions	Recompute if wrong

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Two columns: runs out or never runs out

Split the board. Left: coal, oil, gas. Right: sun, wind, water, geothermal.
Then ask whether making a solar panel uses electricity. It does. Renewable means it is not used up while running, not that it is emission-free from manufacture. This stops children treating it as magic.

Students restate: renewable means not used up, but making the kit still costs energy.

Scene 2: Power times time gives energy

Write 2 MW as 2000 kW. A year has 8760 hours, but wind is not always blowing, so multiply by a 30% capacity factor. 2000 × 8760 × 0.3 = 5 256 000 kWh.
A home uses about 4500 kWh a year, so that is roughly 1168 homes. Have students check the multiplication themselves.

Students state: power × time × factor = energy.

Scene 3: Same unit of electricity, very different carbon

Coal emits about 0.7 kg CO2 per kWh; wind close to zero while running. 5 256 000 × 0.7 kg is about 3 679 tonnes avoided.
Then ask whether turbines are harmless: noise, birds and landscape are real costs. Keep the trade-off visible.

Students compute 3679 tonnes and name one cost of wind.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Sort	Coal, wind, gas into columns	Will it run out?	Coal and gas no, wind yes
Output	Annual output of a 2 MW turbine	kW × hours × factor	5 256 000 kWh
Homes	How many homes does that serve	Divide by 4500	About 1168
Carbon	Tonnes avoided versus coal	kWh × 0.7 ÷ 1000	About 3679 t

Sanity check (teach this): Check the numbers: 2 MW is 2000 kW, and 8760 hours at a 0.30 capacity factor gives 5,256,000 kWh (5.256 GWh). A home using 4500 kWh a year means 1168 homes. At 0.70 kg CO2 per kWh that avoids about 3,679.2 tonnes. A 400 W panel at 4 sun hours makes 1.6 kWh a day, 584 kWh a year.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Sort five	Split five energy sources into two columns	At least two examples each
Panel day	400 W panel, four sun hours	Must reach 1.6 kWh
Panel year	Same panel over a year	Must reach 584 kWh

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Power versus energy	“A 2 MW turbine makes 2 units a day”	“MW is power; multiply by time to get units.”
Forgetting the factor	Using all 8760 hours	“Wind is not always at full strength, so multiply by 30%.”
Wrong units	Answer written as 5256 kg	“The question asks for kWh, not kilograms.”
Too rosy	“Renewables have no downsides”	“Turbines bring noise and bird risk, so state the cost.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

P5 General Studies paper — Science and technology short answers: sorting and output
P6 General Studies paper — Data questions: compare carbon of two supplies
Primary General Studies index — All chapters and matching papers

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Renewable versus non-renewable?	One runs out, one does not	“Green” alone means re-teach
How do you get kWh?	Power times time	Point at the meter if unsure
Any cost to wind?	Yes: noise, birds, landscape	Denial means re-teach

09 Tutor FAQ

Must children memorise 0.7?

No; they must see that the same unit of electricity carries very different carbon.

Is nuclear renewable?

No; uranium runs out, though it is low carbon. Keep the two ideas apart.

Panels cost emissions to make, so are they worth it?

Yes; over twenty to thirty years of output the saving dominates.

Find a tutor — free Tutor Registration →

A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.