As other Western nations fight over climate change and legislation, Costa Rica has been quietly embracing the era of renewable energy. On December 5 of last year, Costa Rica beats its own record of having the entire country using 100% renewable energy and reached 300 days. Costa Rica is perhaps one of the most devoted countries to using renewable sources. The government has placed a huge emphasis on using clean energy and has taken advantage of its climate and location to maximize usage.
The previous record was 299, which is equally impressive. It also went 72 days in 2015 as well, along with even more extended periods of time. In 2017, they went 300 days with 99.62% energy coming from renewable hydroelectric energy. Breaking that down, we get 78.26% of electricity from water, 10.29% from wind, 10.23% from geothermal, and 0.84% from the sun and biomass.
This is tremendous growth considering Costa Rica's first wind farm opened in 1996. Now, Costa Rica is a small country where 99% of its energy is from electricity, so that's the main reason for success. Think about it; it's about half the size of Kentucky and has a population of 4.9 million. Regardless of that, it is impressive that Cost Rica has bene able to sustain its sustainable energy sources over decades. The only thing that poses a concern is how unlikely this energy source ration is in other countries. A country like Mexico or the U.S. could never achieve 78% of its electricity from water.
We have to pay attention to one number, which is that 0.84% from the sun and biomass. Solar energy to this day is costly and takes up a lot of space. A country like Costa Rica doesn't need too much of it, but a bigger country without rivers everywhere? Yep, solar energy plays a more important role and should contribute a greater percentage. That's where the problem occurs because that would take a long time and a lot of effort that will unfortunately be dragged on by America's bureaucracy.
But, this should serve as a guiding force for other south and central American nations, along with many Asian and African nations. All it really takes is a government that emphasizes it and is wiling to conduct long test periods like how Costa Rica did. Maybe people in Paris and Washington should realize that is less about higher taxes than about actually expanding use of renewable sources first to first incentivize consumers toward that direction...
https://thecostaricanews.com/costa-rica-world-power-renewable-energy/https://www.newsweek.com/while-paris-and-washington-rejected-climate-measures-costa-rica-went-300-days-1251147
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