There are many countries around world which shifted from fossil fuels to renewable energy as their sources of electricity. Targets have been made by these countries to be fully dependent on solar, wind, geothermal, hydropower, and nuclear but perhaps one country is ahead of everyone in this aspect.
Costa Rica already made a feat in 2016 when it was able to power itself without burning fossil fuels for 250 days. And this year, it has even surpassed that number: the Central American country has clocked up 300 days generating electricity from renewable energy sources.
A rainforested country with a geographical area of 51,100 square kilometers, Costa Rica has a population of about 5 million. While it ranked 129th worldwide in terms of landmass, it is still quite unbelievable that an entire country has run entirely on renewable energy.
A report by Costa Rica’s National Center for Energy Control said that 99.62% of the country’s electricity production is now generated from five renewable sources.
Hydropower is the leading source, generating 78.26% of the total power generation. Wind comes after with 10.29%, geothermal energy with 10.23%, biomass and solar 0.84 percent%, and hydrocarbons 0.38%.
Photo via Renewables Now
The 300-day mark was recorded as of November 18, meaning that Costa Rica still has enough time to beat their 2015 record which is 299 days of dependence on green energy.
Moreover, another record has also been made by Costa Rica in terms of using its backup in the absence of renewable energy sources.
In 2017, the Central American country did not use its thermal backup for more than 200 days because green sources were available anyway. This beat the 76-day and 75-day streaks in 2016 and 2015 respectively.
It is worth noting, however, that while the country as generated electricity totally on renewable energy source, it is still using fossil fuels for petrol-based vehicles and gas heating of buildings.
Source: Science Alert
