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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @12:09AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 26 2016, @12:09AM (#393250)

    Where it's cold: Super-insulated buildings.
    Do it right and you can keep the place comfy with a single candle.

    Where it's hot: Again, lots of insulation--with special attention to walls that face southward and westward.
    High ceilings; give warm air someplace to go where the people aren't.
    Lots of thermal mass in the living space.
    Open the windows and doors at dusk and let the cool evening air in.
    N.B. In SoCal there is a day-night differential that is typically 20 degrees F--sometimes 30 F.
    (Even if you don't have breezes all the time, if you build things wisely, you can use the chimney effect to get air circulation.)
    Around dawn, stop up all the holes so that the cool air stays inside.

    Note also that I haven't had an air conditioner in my living space for 3 decades.

    The problem with USA is that buildings were built to be cheap to purchase--not for long-term affordability.
    Petroleum taken from other nations at gunpoint tends to queer the thinking of a superpower (once-cheap heating oil; single-family homes in the suburbs).
    Paying domestic coal miners with poverty wages has a similar effect WRT electricity generation.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Friday August 26 2016, @05:57AM

    by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Friday August 26 2016, @05:57AM (#393357)

    When using candles for heat, you need to include a vent-hole. Igloos and similar structures made out of piled snow (forget what they are called) are heated that way.