And the country has a history of sustainable success-in 2015, it relied on nothing but renewable energy for 285 days of the year.
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The small coastal nation has been using 100% renewable energy for 76 days, a shocking two months without fossil fuels.
These energy sources were also vital to Costa Rica’s 299 day fossil fuel-free record last year-one that might be hard to top in 2016.
Along with the latest renewable energy run, the Central American nation of about 4.6 million people ran on clean energy during parts of January, February and March, according according to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). The declines in wind power were made up by hydroelectric power from dams. Bob Brecha, research director for the Hanley Sustainability Institute in the University of Dayton’s School of Engineering, Renewable and Clean Energy Graduate Program, believes the USA could implement a scaled-up version of Costa Rica’s achievement.
But Costa Rica is a country with a population of almost 4.9 million and an area of under 20,000 square miles, making it the 126th largest country on Earth.
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By comparison, the U.S. gets about 13% of its power from renewable sources, mainly hydroelectric, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The solar-panel initiatives in California, for instance, aim to get affordable solar panels onto the roofs of homes to reduce reliance on carbon energy sources. Solar power supplied only 0.01 percent of the country’s electricity needs. Solar power amounted to less than 1% of the Central American nation’s energy this year. As is evident from the figures for this year’s renewable energy usage so far, rainfall and hydroelectric power have also been playing a major role in Costa Rica’s sustainability. ICE is now working on their Reventazon hydroelectric project, which will be the second largest infrastructure undertaking in Central America behind the Panama Canal.
