Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumCosta Rica runs 100% renewable for 113 days in a row
Costa Rica runs 100% renewable for 113 days in a row
Sami Grover
Sami Grover (@samigrover)
Business / Environmental Policy
August 23, 2016
Costa Rica just ran its electricity grid for 113 days in a row entirely on renewable energy. Using a mix of wind, solar and its abundant supply of geothermal energy (a nice boon for anyone wanting to have dispatchable renewables!), this small nation is proving that fossil fuels are no longer necessary to keep the lights on.
That's just one snippet of news from Robert Llewellyn's Fully Charged news update, which also includes some cool information about gigantic, 180-meter (590-feet) high, 8MW wind turbines which are being positioned off the coast of France; Tesla Powerwalls being installed in Australia; and the fact that insurance companies are beginning to provide coverage for autonomous electric vehicles.
More:
http://www.treehugger.com/environmental-policy/costa-rica-runs-100-renewable-113-days-row.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+treehugger%2Fbusiness-politics+%28Business+%26+Politics%29
niyad
(112,424 posts)hunter
(38,263 posts)It's a nice place.
I'll bet they can make it work with electric vehicles too.
They're aiming to be carbon neutral.
NNadir
(33,368 posts)...for decades.
This isn't really news.
It has some geothermal resources, but it's an open question as to whether this is really "renewable."
So what?
It's a small country with a population smaller than the population of New York City.
We've been hearing this elevation of esoteric places for decades now, as some kind of hopeful but delusional propaganda.
For instance, we have people report that for two days, Scotland ran itself on wind power, as if this matters, but not a peep when Scotland produces no wind power.
When was the last time Germany generated no electricity for two days without burning dangerous fossil fuels and dumping the waste directly into the atmosphere?
On Planet Earth, the atmosphere now contains more than 400 ppm of carbon dioxide and it's not coming back. Since we bought into this absurd and very, very, very, very dangerous notion that so called "renewable energy" (after being abandoned in the early 19th century) would save the day, the rate of accumulation of climate change gases has accelerated, not decelerated.
FBaggins
(26,693 posts)On what basis does the author say "Using a mix of wind, solar and its abundant supply of geothermal energy"?
OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)Jan 3, 2016
[font size=4]Recent developments call into question the validity of ICEs claim.[/font]
[font size=4]Energy vs. Electricity[/font]
[font size=3]What happened in Costa Rica between announcing the countrys success with renewable resources at the start of the year and announcing new infrastructure for fossil fuels at the end? It turns out words matter.
On December 30, ICE claimed 99% renewable electricity generation during 2015. That same day, the presidential office released the following energy breakdown according to Costa Ricas energy matrix data:
- 66% hydrocarbons
- 18% electricity
- 14% biomass
- 2% coal
[/font]
Costa Rica is a long way away from their goal of being 100% carbon neutral by 2021.