The graph below shows electricity production (in terawatt hours) in France between 1980 and 2012
Sample Answer
The line graph describes how much electricity was produced from four energy sources in France from 1980 to 2012. Units are measured in terawatt hours.
Overall, electricity generation from nuclear energy grew substantially, making it the primary energy source for the better part of the period. Similarly, the amount of electricity produced from clean energy increased, albeit to a smaller extent. In contrast, thermal and hydroelectric power figures dropped noticeably.
Focusing on increases, in 1980, the production of electricity from nuclear power stood at roughly 70 TW-h. It grew considerably over the next 25 years, reaching a peak of about 425 TW-h in 2005. From 2005 to 2011, the amount of electricity from nuclear energy fluctuated between about 420 and just under 400 TW-h before stabilizing at around 405 TW-h in 2012. Another energy source which grew in use for electricity production was renewables. Virtually no electricity was produced from renewable energy sources until 1996. Following that year, a small amount of electricity was generated from clean energy, and it grew gradually to 25 TW-h in 2012.
As for the remaining sources of electricity, initially ranking first, thermal energy made up 120 TW-h of electricity produced in France. This figure, however, had declined to a low of nearly 45 TW-h by 1988. Following that, it oscillated between 30 and 55 TW-h until 2011, after which it levelled off at just under 50 TW-h in the final year. The amount of electricity from hydroelectric power generally fell, going from approximately 70 TW-h in 1980 to just over 50 TW-h in 2012 after decades of instability.
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