Costa Rica ran entirely on renewable energy for the last two months straight, according to a new report from the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE). The country went 76 days between June and August. Science Alertreported this is the second time in the last two years that Costa Rica has run on non-fossil, renewable fuels, and brings the total number of days of exclusive non-renewable energy use for 2016 up to 150.
According to ICE. the Costa Rican National Center for Energy Control (CENCE) reported the country hasn't used fossil fuels since June 16, and data for September usage is not yet available. Between June 16 and the end of August, Costa Rica's energy needs were derived 80.27 percent from hydroelectric power, 12.62 percent from geothermal energy, 7.1 percent wind-generated power, and less than 1 percent from solar power.
Science Alert also reported that in 2015, Costa Rica ran on purely renewable energy for a total of 299 days, in large part thanks to heavy rainfalls making hydroelectric power plentiful. 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.
Overall, Costa Rica is a model for renewable energy use. Mashable reported that in 2015, 98 percent of the nation's electricity came from hydroelectricity, geothermal, wind, solar, and biomass powers. Only 1.8 percent of Costa Rica's power in 2015 was generated by burning fossil fuels.
While Costa Rica's energy model is not one that could be applied to any country, it's certainly an example of what's possible with extremely minimal fossil fuel use.
