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Costa Rica Has Gone 76 Straight Days Using 100% Renewable Electricity (vox.com)

Posted by msmash on from the affinity-for-renewable-energy dept.

Last year, Costa Rica powered itself using only renewable energy for 75 days. It has topped that feat this year. Vox reports: Costa Rica is pulling off a feat most countries just daydream about: For two straight months, the Central American country hasn't burned any fossil fuels to generate electricity. That's right: 100 percent renewable power. This isn't a blip, either. For 300 total days last year and 150 days so far this year, Costa Rica's electricity has come entirely from renewable sources, mostly hydropower and geothermal. Heavy rains have helped four big hydroelectric dams run above their usual capacity, letting the country turn off its diesel generators. Now, there's a huge, huge caveat here: Costa Rica hasn't eschewed all fossil fuels entirely. The country still has more than 1 million cars running on old-fashioned gasoline, which is why imported oil still supplies over half its total energy needs. The country also has cement plants that burn coal.

7 of 226 comments (clear)

  1. So they didn't? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "The country also has cement plants that burn coal." So assuming they didn't go offline for 150 days, then they didn't actually go 100% on green energy.

    Why did they lie? Oh I see, 'marketing speech'.

    1. Re:So they didn't? by Flavianoep · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Some people (not you) forget that "energy" is not always synonym with "electricity". So whereas headline is accurate, the whole of the article is not so.

      --
      Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
  2. Re:Double standard with renewable classification. by danbob999 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Well, those people in the states are wrong. Hydro is renewable, like it or not. Renewable doesn't mean no impact on the population and ecosystems. All power sources have an impact.

  3. Industrial Capacity of Costa Rica? by Bugler412 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Great that they can exist on renewables like this, mean it. But using an essentially non-industrial country in a temperate climate as an example is statistical bias at best, outright lying at worse. How many aluminum smelters, steel plants, large data centers, and other myriad large bulk power users exist in Costa Rica? You know, the things that allow humans to actually build a first world country capable of supporting a large urban population? Yeah, thought so.

  4. Costa Rica doesn't have an army by Streetlight · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't think Costa Rica is interested in invading another country nor has it been invaded except by folks enjoying its beaches and mild climate. Not sure how big the police force is but may be no larger than that of a big US city.

    --
    In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
  5. Re: And the crowd goes mild!!! by Fragnet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When fossil fuels start to run out the price increases. As the price increases alternative energy sources become viable and evil corporations looking to make a profit start to invest in developing them.

    The current model (capitalism) has already solved the problem, therefore.

  6. Re:Double standard with renewable classification. by Gavagai80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The problem with hydro is that it's impossible to build more dams in countries with environmental regulations, water rights laws and lawyers.

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