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Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

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Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#121
post #62
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has to be a huge part and it's sad but not surprising that you're being downvoted here. Almost every other country in Latin America has either been invaded by the US, or has gone through US-backed coups, economic sanctions during the cold war, etc. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_r...

From your link: Tensions between government and the opposition, supported by the CIA, caused the short-lived Costa Rican Civil War of 1948 that ended Calderón's government and led to the short de facto rule of 18 months by José Figueres Ferrer.

Sounds like he had an interesting relationship with the CIA, to say the least:

>"At the time, I was conspiring against the Latin American dictatorships and wanted help from the United States", he recalled. "I was a good friend of Allen Dulles."

>"Anyway", Mr. Figueres went on, "the C.I.A.'s Cultural Department helped me finance a magazine and some youth conferences here. But I never participated in espionage. I did beg them not to carry out the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, which was madness, but they ignored me."

>Figueres backed the leftist Sandinista revolution in neighboring Nicaragua that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle in 1979. He railed against U.S. policy when the United States supported Nicaragua's Contra guerrillas.

It also reads as though his 1958 testimony before Congress [0] shamed the CIA into facilitating the assassination of Rafael Trujillo, a bloody right-wing dictator who Figueres all but named:

>"If you’re going to speak of human dignity in Russia, why is it so hard to speak of human dignity in the Dominican Republic? Where is intervention and where is non-intervention? Is it that a simple threat, a potential one, to your liberties, is, essentially, more serious than the kidnapping of our liberties?"

>With Figueres as sponsor, Bosch and Ornes agreed to form a coalition government in anticipation of the overthrow of dictator Rafael Trujillo.

Such a fascinating figure. Amazed I never knew his name before now.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Figueres_Ferrer#1958...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tiny country that has very little industry?

> Tiny country that has very little industry? Pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and ecotourism have become the prime industries in Costa Rica's economy. High levels of education among its residents make the country an attractive investing location. [0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica#Trade_and_foreign_i...

None of these qualify as "industry" being mostly tertiary.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#123
post #3

Is there an easy answer as to why Costa Rica is doing so well? They seem to be a bit of an exception in Central/South America. EDIT: From Wikipedia "It is known for its long-standing and stable democracy, and for its highly educated workforce, most of whom speak English. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. Its economy, once heavily dependent on agri…

"Costa Rica had an estimated population of 4,999,441 people. White and Mestizos make up 83.4% of the population"

They have the second largest European descendant population in South America after Uruguay. The European culture of support for democracy can be attributed here (not claiming any genetic predisposition).

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#124
post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that, "what happens if nobody has a standing army?" is an interesting question. What I don't understand is why you think that "someone has to play cop"...?

If you go by historical data, when nobody has a standing army everybody has mercenaries (which leads to instability at scale).

Or someone gets the bright idea of putting together an army and conquering their neighbors (who don't have a standing army and are relying on Mercenaries who keep a good feel on which way the wind is blowing (and who will have the money to pay them in the future)).

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#126
Not to be That Guy (again), but it would be helpful if headlines like these could distinguish between 'electricity usage' and 'total energy consumption', because the non-electricity slice of the overall energy pie tends to be one of the far greedier slices.

- ed.

RTFA, detritus - it's right there in the first paragraph. As you were!

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#127

Not to be That Guy (again), but it would be helpful if headlines like these could distinguish between 'electricity usage' and 'total energy consumption', because the non-electricity slice of the overall energy pie tends to be one of the far greedier slices. - ed. RTFA, detritus - it's right there in the first paragraph. As you were!

It is, and they literally address this in the first paragraph.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#128

Not to be That Guy (again), but it would be helpful if headlines like these could distinguish between 'electricity usage' and 'total energy consumption', because the non-electricity slice of the overall energy pie tends to be one of the far greedier slices. - ed. RTFA, detritus - it's right there in the first paragraph. As you were!

It is, and they literally address this in the first paragraph.

I realised and edited just as you, correctly, chided me :)

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#129
100% renewable...but not 100% green by the new standards. Hydro is only renewable for "low impact small sources". Considering a majority of their electricity is coming from hydro I would say it's not from "low impact small sources". Still a great feat though, but the bar keeps moving higher.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#130
post #61

We really need two words for renewables: one for types that scale but don't provide power on demand (wind, solar), and the other for types that provide power on demand but aren't available at scale everywhere (hydro, geothermal). Costa Rica is blessed with plenty of the second type and uses it. Because we lump it all into "renewables," it sounds like it should be easy for everyone to follow their example, and that's…

Isn't geothermal theoretically available everywhere?
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