According to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute, costa rica has not had to burn fossil fuels to supply their grid with electricity since 2014. The majority of the country's energy comes from hydroelectric power stations. These stations churn out 80% of their energy via the heavy rains experienced throughout the year. About 15% of Costa Rica's energy comes from geothermal energy and surprisingly, less than 10% comes from solar and wind. The country has also set forth a new program allowing consumers who have Solar panels and other renewable systems to store their surplus power in the national grid.
Although the country still relies on gas for transportation purposes, they are working towards a solution.
How do they fund it?
Costa Rica did away with their military back in 1948 as former president, Jose Figueres, announced the nations military budget be redistributed into healthcare, education, and environmental protection.Amazingly, Costa Rica is not the only country making renewables look easy.
Other awesome pioneers of renewable energy:
Paraguay-- the Itaipu dam provides this country with 90% of its electric and 19% of Brazil's! It has reduced over 67 million tons of C02 a year.
Norway-- Hydro and geothermal energy provide this country with over 90% of its electricity needs.
Iceland - Hydro and geothermal energy supply this country with 100% of their electricity.
Geothermal energy is so effective in this country that they have a surplus and are looking to build and grid interconnector to give the excess power to the UK.
But that's not all...
Lesthro, Sweden Germany, Denmark, Spain Albania, Belize, Malawi, Laos, and Bhutan are also revolutionizing the way we get our energy. These countries are becoming more and more progressive with renewable energy each day.As these countries area clearly showing us, renewable energy is not as difficult to implement as you'd think. Perhaps countries like the US, China, and India should take note. Either way, these countries are certainly moving in a positive, eco-friendly direction.
