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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

#291

Post by stjohnswarts »

realreality wrote: post #273
asteroidbelt wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No the solution is to impose carbon tax, and: * Let consumer decide what is more important for them, saved money or not worrying about light switches * Give capitalists incentive to produce greener electricity Yes, technically, forcing people to reduce their quality of life is a solution, but it's better to solve the problem without it.

No. Capitalism is not capable of addressing the climate and ecological crisis.

If governments forced power producers to factor in externalities like cost of global warming and pollution actually they could and probably better than some leftists who think governments should come in and jackboot the populace into compliance.

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

#292

Post by stjohnswarts »

asdff wrote: post #228
trefgin wrote: post #49

The thing that really pisses me off is that governments in the past worked SO HARD to argue that renewable energy could never work.

Nixon actually wanted to build 1000 nuclear power plants in the U.S. by the year 2000. Today there 60. Governments of the past didn't argue against renewable energy, they gave up on renewable energy in the face of political opposition, which ironically at the time came from the anti-nuclear left.

GOP has fallen a long way since Nixon('s policies), now they're out for a single party system controlled by them to the point of sending a mob after Congress. I miss the old GOP, I even voted for some of them in times past, now they are but a looming shadow on democracy.

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

#293

Post by mavhc »

jacquesm wrote: post #103
mavhc wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would be good for those 5 second brownouts though

Flywheels are a pretty good solution for ride-through of brownouts. Fairly compact and instantly available.

Where are they deployed at scale?

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

#294

Post by realreality »

asteroidbelt wrote: post #282
realreality wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. Capitalism is not capable of addressing the climate and ecological crisis.

I explained how it will work. Care you explain where I'm wrong or present any arguments to substantiate your point of view? Otherwise you comment is equivalent to just "I disagree", which contributes zero to the discussion.

A carbon tax might've worked if implemented a couple of decades ago, when it could be gradually increased over time, and giving industries time to adapt. It is meant to be a gentle way for the government to change behavior.

But the scale of emissions reductions required now -- at least 10% per year [1] -- would mean that the price of carbon would have to immediately be cripplingly high. Obviously, that's bad for anyone who isn't rich. And there's no appetite for high taxes.

The point being, if the government is going to intervene to the degree that the climate crisis requires, then the government might as well directly shut down industries and institute regulations on behavior, instead of indirectly through carbon taxes. As we've been reminded of recently, the wealthy always find loopholes around paying their fair share of taxes.

[1] https://www.showyourbudgets.org/?country=united_states_of_am... And even this budget is likely conservative, as committed warming is a topic of debate.

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

#295

Post by jacquesm »

mavhc wrote: post #293
jacquesm wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flywheels are a pretty good solution for ride-through of brownouts. Fairly compact and instantly available.

Where are they deployed at scale?

Hospitals, datacenters. Plenty of them to ensure that operation theater gear continues to work uninterrupted in case of brown out or the - short - interval during which generators start up if the power should fail.

Teraloop, AFS and others.

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

#296

Post by ncmncm »

asdff wrote: post #283
ncmncm wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nixon wanted to build nukes because nuke construction projects are almost ideal conduits for graft. When a nuke plant construction project goes 400% over budget and 3x over schedule, do we get 400% more nuke plant? No, but every penny goes into somebody's pocket . The ratepayers invariably end up paying through the nose. This is part of why small-scale factory-built nukes never found a foothold in the US. There just…

Why is a nuke plant an ideal conduit for graft versus any other government contractor project? Is there evidence for this?

True, many other government contractor projects have been effective graft vehicles. The F-35 jet and the SLS rocket are other, very current examples. People have begun to catch on about nuke plants; they started out as a scam to make the uranium economy more favorable for weapons work, and that has been baked in.

Notable recent exceptions include solar and wind farms, partly I expect because people can tell how much they should cost: N panels x $P per panel, N turbines x $P per turbine. Also, people doing them tend to be idealists; they want the most power out that money can buy, anywhere else if not here.

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

#297

Post by RhodoGSA »

pier25 wrote: post #167
gamegoblin wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The book "Why Nations Fail" and the followup by the same authors "The Narrow Corridor" paints a fairly convincing picture that the success or failure of many modern Latin American countries is directly correlated with the extent to which the Spanish colonialists were able to enslave/subjugate the indigenous population, and the types of societies and institutions that followed that initial seed. For example, in modern…

I haven't read those books, but a priori it sounds like cherry picking. Mexico for example had a revolution which gave the land to the people and is a country that, over a century later, is still struggling with corruption, ignorance, superstition, etc. I've been living in Mexico for 12 years and IMO it all comes down to poor education like the grandparent comment by belval suggested. As an example, take the current…

Mexico is the 9th largest economy by GDP and dwarfs all other countries in the regions. I think you proved is point, rather than negated it. Also, as a counter point, Mexico's proximity to the US had alot to do with the corruption and current regime in mexico.

Drugs across the american border is very lucrative giving power and money to alot of bad people in Mexico. Watch Narcos Mexico to get a wiff of the proximity to the US creating cartels.

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

#298

Post by RhodoGSA »

DennisP wrote: 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…

I would love to a see a cost per watt across all renewables. is building a hydro and geothermal plant much cheaper than solar given you have the right conditions for solar?

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

#299

Post by RhodoGSA »

ip26 wrote: post #239
aazaa wrote: post #159

The update is telling: > Update 3/17/2021: Our original article stated "Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Energy for 299 Days." It was pointed out to us that while Costa Rica's electric grid does run primarily on renewable energy, a better title would have been "Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity". Below the article says that the government had not burned any oil to power the country, but this would…

Where do the batteries come from, and how much non-renewable energy does it cost to produce them? There's an interconnection. As the world electrifies, it will become easier for manufacturing to electrify, too.

this. Alot of people forget that progress for progress sake does indeed beget more progress.

Anecdotal, rather whimsical example; As soon as i transitioned my factorio to electricity, i found it much easier to just build a solar panel factory and batterys to power everything because i stop getting attacked by the mobs.

Also, one future problem that i find funny. Electric is better. If everyone had access to cheap, renewable energy it only makes sense to transition to that renewable energy. Also with the rise of carbon removal, I see global warming in the future becoming an entirely different problem to solve. It shows in our models that the PPM of carbon in the atmosphere has different effects throughout the world. So once we 'solve' the climate crisis, what entity says where the happy medium is? If it makes one region arid and another eden, who gets to be the deciding factor.

I see a future where carbon sequestration and maybe even addition is a matter of national security.

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

#300

Post by st1ck »

stjohnswarts wrote: post #288
nicoburns wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not pissing off the United States? My understanding is that most Central and some South American countries have had their governments intentionally destabilised by the US because they were perceived as too left wing.

Maybe 50-70 years ago? yeah. Now? no. USA barely does anything in Central and South America any longer.

Are you just being sarcastic?

Just a random result from searching for "bolivia coup": https://theintercept.com/2020/07/23/the-u-s-supported-coup-i...

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