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posted by martyb on Thursday August 25 2016, @01:48PM   Printer-friendly
from the sustainable-progress dept.

Costa Rica is much more than a lush, green tourist paradise; it's also a green energy pioneer. The small Central American nation has generated 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources for the past 113 days, and the run isn't over yet. The country, which draws clean energy from a variety of renewable sources, still has its sights on a full year without fossil fuels for electricity generation.

With a 113-day stretch of 100-percent renewable energy under its belt and several months left in the year, Costa Rica is edging closer to its target. Costa Rica could be on track to match the record set with its renewable energy production last year, which accounted for 99 percent of the country's electricity. That included 285 days powered completely by renewable sources, according to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute.

It's a small country with 5 million people and not a lot of heavy industry, but it's still impressive. There are many other countries with similar climate and terrain that could do likewise.

Previously:
Costa Rica Gets 100% of Its Power from Renewables for 1st Quarter of 2015
Costa Rica Achieved 99% Renewable Energy This Year


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by richtopia on Thursday August 25 2016, @04:31PM

    by richtopia (3160) on Thursday August 25 2016, @04:31PM (#393090) Homepage Journal

    Here is a quick list of all countries of energy usage per capita:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_energy_consumption_per_capita [wikipedia.org]

    Looking at the countries I believe Costa Rica is below average (less than China but more than India), but not an outlier.

    However, very relevant is the quality of life. This is very hard to measure but by the World Happiness Report Costa Rica is doing quite well (14th, and the highest non-Western nation):

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report [wikipedia.org]

    Costa Rica does consume less energy enabling large periods of time of 100% renewable usage, but they still live in comfort. Something to be learned from both on the energy and quality of life aspects.

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Osamabobama on Thursday August 25 2016, @05:11PM

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Thursday August 25 2016, @05:11PM (#393103)

    and the highest non-Western nation

    I think I understand what you are getting at with that label, but I can't help but be distracted by the geographical irony. If a location in the middle of the Western Hemisphere isn't enough to qualify as a Western nation, I don't know what is.

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    • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday August 25 2016, @05:43PM

      by JNCF (4317) on Thursday August 25 2016, @05:43PM (#393107) Journal

      He's also implicitly counting New Zealand and Israel as non-Western. New Zealand is about as far East as you can get on a map, and I would have a hard time arguing that Israel is Western in a geographic or cultural sense.

      • (Score: 2) by JNCF on Thursday August 25 2016, @06:06PM

        by JNCF (4317) on Thursday August 25 2016, @06:06PM (#393113) Journal

        Emphasis added:

        He's also implicitly counting New Zealand and Israel as non-Western.

        I meant Western, obviously. Hurpadurpa.

    • (Score: 2) by Hawkwind on Thursday August 25 2016, @09:04PM

      by Hawkwind (3531) on Thursday August 25 2016, @09:04PM (#393186)

      If a location in the middle of the Western Hemisphere isn't enough to qualify as a Western nation

      Western nation may be non-intuitive but it's pervasive [wikipedia.org]. Although meaning can very there's an interesting map here [wikia.com].

    • (Score: 2) by richtopia on Thursday August 25 2016, @09:11PM

      by richtopia (3160) on Thursday August 25 2016, @09:11PM (#393191) Homepage Journal

      I actually did take a moment to consider how to make that statement and figured Western was reasonable. I didn't want to say Costa Rica was Third World, but now that I think about it developing would have been a better statement.

      Since I enjoy linking Wikipedia so much, there is an article which discusses the usage of the terminology "Western". I was thinking along the lines of the modern economic definition from the article, although the many definitions in the article stress how loose of a term Western Nation is.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_world#Economic_definition [wikipedia.org]