Costa Rica sets the Record
In April, Costa Rica was record-breaking in relying on renewable energy for 75 days, since the start of 2015. However, the country might be groundbreaking for its environmentalist agenda, but its “model” of success is not easy to apply elsewhere.
This spring, Costa Rica’s state owned electricity company announced that the country based its consumption solely on renewable resources for 75 days. It is the first world country to run without relying on fossil fuels for this long. This achievement made the headlines all around the world, and made people wonder…
Why can’t the Costa Rican model be applied elsewhere if it proved so successful?
The country’s inhabitants have benefited from the use of renewable sources, especially as electricity prices lowered. However, it is hard for the production of fossil fuel-free electricity to continue on this scale and for this model to be easily exported to other countries.
The strong commitment required of a country
The reason why Costa Rica managed to break this world record in clean energy production was due to two main factors: the extremely heavy rainfalls at the start of the year, which gave power to hydroelectric plants, and the abundance of natural resources which have for long assured high rates of green energy production within the country. This has always favoured Costa Rica in the environmental conversation, leading its government to announce a strong commitment to a green agenda, with the goal of carbon neutrality by 2021.
However, the downside of generating electricity through hydroelectric plants, is that it requires large amounts of rainfall. Not long ago the country had suffered one of its biggest droughts, forcing the burning of fuels to generate power. This means that this form of production is not always reliable, especially due to the constant, negative effects of climate change.
More emissions than just energy productions
Also, energy production through burning fuels is not the only cause of greenhouse emissions in today’s world. Even if Costa Rica fully relied on renewable resources for energy production, it would still need to address the issue of carbon emissions by buses, trains and cars which accounted to almost 70% in 2014. So far the presence of hybrid cars present which take advantage of “green” power is limited.
Costa Rica is inhabited by merely 5 million people, is rich with natural elements which favour the production of renewable energy and has no major industry to rely on. This means that overall it relies on significantly less energy production, therefore making it easier to stick to an environmental agenda.
Nevertheless, both the problems Costa Rica faces due to the hydroelectric power production and the carbon emissions while being one of the world’s most dedicated countries in solving environmental issues, shows how hard it would be for other nations to adopt its model.
