Lesson Y8-U06-L06

Y8-U06-L06 The Energy Mix of the UK Quiz: KS3 Geography, Unit 12

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson Y8-U06-L06, The Energy Mix of the UK: 20 multiple choice questions for the KS3 Geography (National Curriculum), Unit 12: Year 8: Resources: Feeding and Powering the World, written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What does the term 'energy mix' mean?

    • The different sources a country uses to make its electricity, shown as shares
    • A single bar showing how much coal is burned each year
    • The amount of electricity a country sends to its neighbours
    • The total cost of building all of a country's power stations across the whole of its national grid

  2. What does each block of a divided-bar graph show?

    • The number of people who work in each energy industry
    • The exact year a power station was first opened
    • The cost of each source in pounds for every unit of power
    • A share of the whole bar, such as one source's part of the total

  3. Which of these is a fossil fuel?

    • Offshore wind
    • Solar panels
    • Biomass chips
    • Natural gas

  4. In 2023, which was the UK's largest electricity source?

    • Solar, at about 5 percent
    • Gas, at about 33 percent
    • Nuclear, at about 14 percent
    • Wind, at about 29 percent

  5. Roughly what share of UK electricity came from wind in 2023?

    • About 39 percent
    • About 14 percent
    • About 29 percent
    • About 5 percent

  6. Roughly what share of UK electricity was renewable in 2023, counting wind, solar and biomass?

    • About 33 percent
    • About 47 percent
    • About 29 percent
    • About 39 percent

  7. Roughly what share did coal have in the UK mix in 1990?

    • About 39 percent
    • About 1 percent
    • About 65 percent
    • About 28 percent

  8. Roughly what share did renewables have in the UK mix in 1990?

    • About 7 percent
    • About 2 percent
    • About 65 percent
    • About 33 percent

  9. Which of these is the UK's largest renewable source in the 2023 mix?

    • Wind
    • Biomass
    • Nuclear
    • Solar

  10. What does a line on a line graph that slopes upwards show?

    • A total that adds up to exactly 100 percent
    • A share that is falling over time
    • A share that is rising over time
    • A share that stayed the same in every year

  11. In 2023, how much bigger was nuclear's share than solar's?

    • About 5 percentage points
    • About 14 percentage points
    • About 29 percentage points
    • About 9 percentage points

  12. Coal fell from about 65 percent in 1990 to about 1 percent in 2023. How large was the fall?

    • About 74 percentage points
    • About 56 percentage points
    • About 64 percentage points
    • About 66 percentage points

  13. Renewables rose from about 2 percent in 1990 to about 39 percent in 2023. What is the size of the increase?

    • About 41 percentage points
    • About 47 percentage points
    • About 37 percentage points
    • About 27 percentage points

  14. Which fuel releases the most carbon dioxide when it is burned to make electricity?

    • Natural gas
    • Coal
    • Offshore wind
    • Solar energy

  15. Why did the UK close its coal power stations?

    • Coal became too cheap, so power stations could not compete on price
    • Coal releases a lot of carbon dioxide, and the UK set targets to cut emissions
    • Coal needs more land than any other source of electricity
    • Coal produces so much noise that the stations could not be kept open

  16. Why has the UK built more renewable power in recent years?

    • Wind turbines only work well in the middle of the desert
    • Wind replaced all gas stations overnight without any building work
    • Wind has been banned from use in every other country
    • Wind and solar costs fell fast, making renewables cheaper to build

  17. In which year did the UK's last coal power station close?

    • 2021
    • 2024
    • 2019
    • 2030

  18. Why is an offshore wind farm a good place to make electricity?

    • Wind at sea is calm, so turbines never need to be repaired or serviced
    • Offshore sites need no cables because wind power travels through water
    • Wind at sea is strong and steady, and it makes power without burning fuel
    • Sea water makes the turbines spin faster than wind does on land

  19. Renewables made about 39 percent of the UK mix in 2023 and gas about 33 percent. What does this show?

    • Renewables had overtaken gas, so fossil fuels were no longer used at all
    • Renewables were a large share and slightly bigger than gas alone
    • Gas was still bigger than all renewables put together
    • Renewables were a tiny share, much smaller than nuclear power

  20. Why might the UK still need gas even as renewables grow?

    • Wind and solar do not always produce power, so gas can back them up
    • Gas is needed to heat the water that spins offshore turbines
    • Gas is the only source that can be built on the coast
    • Gas has no carbon emissions at all, so it is always preferred

All KS3 Geography quizzes