Question

Total power generated by wind worldwide doubles every 3 years. In a particular year, the world wind-generating capacity was about 92 thousand megawatts. Find the continuous growth rate and give a formula for wind generating capacity WW (in thousand megawatts) as a function of tt, the number of years in the future.

Answer 1

Total power generated doubles every 3 years, so the growth rate is: (final value / initial value)^(1/years) - 1 = (2 / 1)^(1/3) - 1 = 26% For the formula, the initial capacity was 92 thousand megawatts, so as a function: WW = Initial Capacity*(1 + growth rate)^(tt) WW = 92*(1+26%)^(tt)