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Costa Rica Goes 75 Days Powering Itself Using Only Renewable Energy
An anonymous reader writes with news about an impressive renewable energy accomplishment in Costa Rica. Costa Rica has achieved a clean energy milestone by using 100 per cent renewable energy for a record 75 days in a row. The feat was achieved thanks to heavy rainfall, which powered four hydroelectric plants in the first three months of the year, the state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute said. No fossil fuels have been burnt to generate electricity since December 2014, in the state which is renowned for its clean energy policies."
That is about 9500 days Iceland has Powered Itself Using Only Renewable Energy.
echo '[q]sa[ln0=aln80~Psnlbx]16isb572CCB9AE9DB03273snlbxq' |dc
A bit over 99% of the electricity generated in Norway is from hydro plants, because it has a ton of hydro resources.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Quebec, with 8.2 million people, goes 365 days on hydro all the time.
Now, they only need to install electric pumps for when it's not raining, and they're 100% renewable forever!
The jokes on you as the US already does this. The Bath County Pumped Storage Station at a capacity of 3GW is the largest pumped storage station in the world.
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You can still deplete your supply of renewables by using more than the refill rate - at least temporarily.
"The real issue is that this will require investment in research and that means not making a profit in the next 3 years, which is about the duration of how far a CXO looks."
Ahh... No.
1. There is not enough hydro resources in the US. The US has actually exploited a lot of them already. They US already gets 7% from hydro and has been using it for decades.
2. "And there is dessert enough available to put a LOT of sun collectors." And no effective way to store it for use at night and the evenings. Solar only produces power for around 8 hours a day. Less in the winter. Storage is now and has been a problem forever. Lots of money is being out into battery tech but nothing is shipping yet. Solar production also does not match peak demand. It comes close in summer but still drops to near zero while peak hours are still in effect. Also most desserts in the US are in the south. They have shorter days than areas in the north of the US in summer and much higher temperatures which means lots of AC.
Even Germany which people like to show as Solar working is really not a working system. They are going to massive coal plants for base load.
http://www.businessinsider.com...
Costa Rica is a small mountainous nation that has huge amounts of rain forests. Frankly it was dumb for them to ever use fossil fuels for electricity except as a back up. In many ways they are like Iceland in that regard. The US has a lot of hydro resources and is using them but it is not enough to power the entire US.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I lived in Costa Rica for a couple years, most recently about eight months ago. They have a phrase, "pura vida" which could maybe be translated as "the good life", but it's used as a greeting and farewell phrase as well. It's also used as an answer to, "How are you doing?" On the one hand, it seems remarkable that they would be happier than anyone else; broadly speaking I expect people to have the same general experiences anywhere. On the other hand, I spent a few months in Panama and then returned to CR for a holiday, and when I picked up a pizza that I had ordered, the guy said "Have a nice day," that is, "pura vida". And he meant it sincerely. At that moment, the difference in attitude was shocking; I had been used to Panamanians (although I prefer the sobriquet Panamaniacs :P) basically looking at me as a business opportunity at best.
The average Costa Rican does not have a computer, although cell phones are relatively common. Computers are quite expensive, enough to make an import business profitable, but very few people can afford one. There is a 100% import duty on cars, so those are expensive too. They also do a license plate restriction on driving, at least in San Jose. Most have electricity and relatively clean water, although they do have an issue with dumping raw sewage into almost all of the rivers. I wish I could more effectively describe the impoverished living conditions; if you have any specific questions please feel free to ask.
On the other hand, people sure don't care about working hard there. My friends in San Jose tell me that the weekend starts on Thursday, and everyone including the boss is late on Fridays and Mondays. There were as I recall a couple clubs where you paid a $10 cover and drinks were free. If there was paperwork that needed to be processed by the government, let's just say the Vogons would be proud of the Tico bureaucracy. If you needed to have your car repaired by a certain date, the Ticos will of course be delighted to tell you that it will be ready then, but no amount of inducement or cajoling will actually make it ready by a given date. Things happen when they happen, and no one is in a hurry to get anything done or to go anywhere — they call it operating on "Tico time".
However, all that said, I'm a little skeptical of the article. Most of Costa Rica is really rural, and I would be surprised if the national power grid actually extended to all corners of the country. I don't think that the average Tico really cares about environmentalism; to some degree it's a first world problem. The Costa Rican government on the other hand knows that the country basically has no industries; the farming isn't great and I believe tourism is the biggest part of the economy. Costa Rica doesn't have all that much to tour, either: there are no mayan or aztec ruins, and almost nothing in the way of indigenous culture. I heard something about painted oxcarts being a thing, but never saw one. Contrast with Panama's amazing diablo rojos (the buses or the costumes). So some while back they hit upon the idea to market themselves as a destination for "eco-tourism", which involves convincing the rest of the world that they have some sort of unique level of biodiversity. It may even be true. However, they really need to promote the image of being green and eco-friendly regardless of the truth.
If I could make a decent living there it'd be hard not to go back, even though the world is full of things I have never seen before. Whether or not the Ticos are the happiest people, I think that I can safely say that happiness for me is two-for-one mango daiquiris at the Lazy Mon. Pura Vida!
Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
OK, so make it $450 per panel in a 10 kWp turnkey system. Still way less than those "$5000". Do you want it gold-plated or what?
Ezekiel 23:20