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Costa Rica has run on 100% renewable energy for 300 days
- toomuchtodo 7y agoElectricityMap.org: Costa Rica https://www.electricitymap.org/?wind=false&solar=false&page=country&remote=true&countryCode=CR https://www.electricitymap.org/?wind=false&solar=false&page=...
- rotten 7y agoSnarky conservatives who never heard of energy storage would say - "And nights too?"
- toomuchtodo 7y agoCosta Rica has a large hydro capacity, so nights too :)
- rbritton 7y agoFun fact: Last I heard, Washington state does not consider hydro to be renewable [0]. I don't know if any other states are similar. [0]: https://shiftwa.org/its-time-wa-considers-hydropower-as-renewable-energy/ https://shiftwa.org/its-time-wa-considers-hydropower-as-rene...
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- fintechpwmMEdev 7y agoIt shouldn't - the damage dams do to our fisheries is devastating. We likely wouldn't need fish farms and genetic modified salmon if we didn't have so many dams. It would be interesting to see what effects the New Deal had on our fish populations... https://livingnewdeal.org/new-deal-categories/infrastructure/dams/ https://livingnewdeal.org/new-deal-categories/infrastructure...
- godshatter 7y agoI would consider them renewable as long as the river keeps flowing. The question of whether or not we should use them because of the damage to fish populations is another question entirely.
- NegativeLatency 7y agoNot just the fish are impacted by the dams https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2018/11/feds-approve-plan-for-state-officials-to-kill-sea-lions-at-willamette-falls.html https://www.oregonlive.com/news/2018/11/feds-approve-plan-fo... > The state applied to kill the sea lions “because their analyses showed that the high levels of predation by sea lions meant there was an almost 90% probability that one of the upper Willamette steelhead runs would go extinct,” the wildlife agency said in a statement.
- NegativeLatency 7y agoNot to mention the cascading downstream (no pun intended) effects like Orcas starving to death. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/hunger-the-decline-of-salmon-adds-to-the-struggle-of-puget-sounds-orcas/ https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/environment/hunger... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/25/orca-starving-washington-feed-salmon-lummi-native-american https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/25/orca-sta...
- throwaway5752 7y agoRenewable is immaterial as long as it doesn't emit CO2. Nuclear isn't renewable, either.
- Ericson2314 7y agoNuclear doesn't ravage fish and watersheds either!
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- jnellis 7y agohttps://duckduckgo.com/?q=hanford+leaking+into+columbia https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hanford+leaking+into+columbia
- derblitzmann 7y agoHanford isn't a power plant, it was a nuclear production facility for weapons grade nuclear material.
- jnellis 7y ago"The last reactor, N Reactor, continued to operate as a dual-purpose reactor, being both a power reactor used to feed the civilian electrical grid via the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS)" "Hanford also hosts a commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station, and various centers for scientific research and development, such as the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the LIGO Hanford Observatory. "
- throwaway5752 7y agoNuclear has well known downsides. As I mentioned, it's not renewable so isn't a permanent path forward for human civilization. But additionally it currently has unpriced externalities in long term waste storage, looks less attractive when fuel & plant are full amortized over lifecycle, complex relationship with arms proliferation, limited deployment options because of large cooling requirements, requires permanent and expensive security and expertise over the life of a plant, and others. It's not the harmless cure-all that it's made out to be here at times. edit: that said, CO2 levels are an immediate planetary crisis and nuclear is a tool we can and should use to mitigate it.
- dang 7y agoMaybe so, but please don't post unsubstantive comments here, and especially please don't take HN threads on ideological tangents. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- devoply 7y agoA country of 5 million people with mostly a tourism based economy.
- F_r_k 7y agoLet not that be an excuse for our laziness in developing renewable energy.
- benj111 7y agoDoes population size matter? Per capita investment will be the same whether the population is 5 million or 50 million.
- DanTheManPR 7y agoIt would be just as accurate to say "a mostly semi-conductor manufacturing based economy", given that both are around 5% of GDP.
- mpiedrav 7y agoHowever, Intel closed the fab business here years ago, when they decided to reduce expenses even further by moving production to Malaysia. They are still around with some software-related projects. Our Costa Rican economy is, more than ever before, based on providing services: customer support, technical support, financial services, web and games development, digital arts, ecotourism, etc.
- TomK32 7y agoOne of the benefits when you're the only country celebrating a Military Abolition Day.
- jm4 7y agoThey spend hundreds of millions on the UEI special forces that are somehow not considered military even though they are structured like a military. This is basically their defense from Nicaragua and narcos which is really all they have to worry about. They have the Fuerza Publica which handles broader security and law enforcement. They are also under UN protection and both the US and China have interests there. It's not like they don't spend any money on defense.
- icebraining 7y ago(2017), which is even more impressive.
- rmateu 7y agoMore recent source in April mentions: > Only with renewable energies, this country has been operating for more than 6 months. The heavy rains in the region have allowed the country to completely renounce fossil fuels, and to feed almost entirely on the electricity generated from 4 hydroelectric plants – with a little extra help from geothermal, solar green energy and wind projects. With a little more investment, this trend can be maintained over time. https://thecostaricanews.com/costa-rica-is-running-only-with-renewable-energy-in-the-last-months/ https://thecostaricanews.com/costa-rica-is-running-only-with...
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- mikece 7y agoIt's interesting how incredibly low France's CO2 output is, mainly thanks to their investment in nuclear power. And while uranium isn't renewable, I think we've got 300,000 years worth of it available. Think we can crack fusion or ultra-high-efficiency solar by then?
- dv_dt 7y agohttps://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/giant-batteries-and-cheap-solar-power-are-shoving-fossil-fuels-grid https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/giant-batteries-and-... > This month, officials in Los Angeles, California, are expected to approve a deal that would make solar power cheaper than ever while also addressing its chief flaw: It works only when the sun shines. The deal calls for a huge solar farm backed up by one of the world's largest batteries. It would provide 7% of the city's electricity beginning in 2023 at a cost of 1.997 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh) for the solar power and 1.3 cents per kWh for the battery. That's cheaper than any power generated with fossil fuel.
- WalterBright 7y agoThe need for batteries would be greatly reduced if the electricity rates were higher for when the grid was running on batteries.
- dragontamer 7y agoOn the contrary. California's current energy usage goes from ~16GW to 32GWs each and every day. http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/default.aspx http://www.caiso.com/TodaysOutlook/Pages/default.aspx Currently, electricity is generated by "peaker plants", which spin up when the price of electricity goes up, and then spin down when the price of electricity is low. Consumers are often passed the buck: peaker-plant electricity (usually natural gas) costs more than baseload electricity (usually nuclear or coal) Utility-scale batteries are competing against the Natural Gas peaker plants. The question is if utility scale batteries can make as much money (ie: provide the power at low enough costs) to be worthwhile.
- HissingMachine 7y agoIt is very impressive, but when looking at a broader picture you come to see that electricity prices are fairly high, the temperate climate means mostly no heating or air conditioning needs, and there is very little energy-intensive heavy industry like steel mills or such. But every country has its unique features and must play with the cards they are handed. So this still is really neat.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- theli0nheart 7y agoCosta Rica has a tropical climate. > Because Costa Rica is located between 8 and 12 degrees north of the Equator, the climate is tropical year round. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica
- HissingMachine 7y agoAnother wikipedia article states this, which I based my assumption to. >Mild climate and trade winds make neither heating nor cooling necessary, particularly in the highland cities and towns where some 90% of the population lives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Costa_Rica https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Costa_Rica
- swebs 7y agoAnd here's a final wikipedia article that probably explains why he corrected you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperate_climate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temperate_climate
- HissingMachine 7y agoFair enough should probably have used the mild climate term used in the wikipedia article to avoid confusing to climate zones.
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- ecocentrik 7y agoIt's even more impressive when you notice the article is from 2017.
- 4ntonius8lock 7y agoPart of this is the fact that Costa Rica is an energy exporter. Handling consumption peaks means either using fossil fuels, or vastly over producing electricity during non-peak hours (which in a free market can cause odd incentives such as negative energy prices). CR as an energy exporter, they generally produce way more than the country consumes, so they get to handle the peaks in a way that is unique to places that have energy importing neighbors. I will add, this electricity is produced by a government run monopoly that keeps prices extremely high, which has chocked out much of the manufacturing done in the area. Even tradition, old school Costa Rican brands which supply the local market have been moving to Nicaragua and Panama (Jack's snacks for example) Still, the achievement is great news and commendable.
- intopieces 7y ago(2017), please
- jm4 7y agoAnd the air still smells like car exhaust in pretty much every city. I've been there many times and was actually there earlier this week. I've been all over the western half of the country. They have an insane tax on cars - I think it's like 20% of the value of the car - which means a bunch of people drive old beaters and cheap dirtbikes. They are noisy and dirty. I had an easier time sleeping last time I went to NYC than I did in Palmares with all the motorcycles riding around. They require you to bring your car in for regular emissions tests, but I don't know how that's working out because a bunch of the cars there are a lot dirtier than what we have in the US. Once you get away from the cities and cars it's beautiful though.
- alkonaut 7y agoIs 20% really insane? Do they also have a VAT? A VAT is often 20 or 25% so that seems like a normal tax on any product, not only cars. It’s probably high for not-very-rich country though (compare e.g with Norway’s sometimes over 100% tax).
- jm4 7y agoIt's high enough that people are driving dirty old beaters instead of something newer that pollutes less. You could probably make an argument that it does more harm than good. I think they also have VAT or it's coming soon. There have been protests about it since late last year. A couple weeks ago they were at it again and truckers clogged all the roads going 1 kmh.
- Voloskaya 7y agoWhat are you even talking about? VAT has existed in France for decades. The 20% tax has nothing to do with cars, its just the regular VAT you pay on any transformed good. People driving old cars also paid VAT when they bought it (it might have been closer to 17% back in the time). And finally the yellow vest movement has nothing to do with VAT.
- jm4 7y ago
- prlambert 7y agoThis article is from 2017
- SlowRobotAhead 7y agoPeople celebrating this might want to go to Costa Rica and see it for themselves. I was traveling the west coast and power went out nightly Quepos to Sierpe. I think 5 or 6 times during dinner in Playa Dominical. 100% renewable is great, but let’s not pretend they have even two 9’s uptime.
- danielfoster 7y agoThis is pretty awesome. I just came back from a trip to Costa Rica and although I found the country a tad boring and overpriced, I was thoroughly impressed with the knowledge and respect locals have for nature.
- nabeards 7y agoDid you travel outside the normal tourist areas?
- JoeAltmaier 7y agoCosta Rica uses a tiny fraction of power, per-capita, of a developed nation. Their solutions may not be applicable.
- BurningFrog 7y agoCost Rica is pretty developed. It is far richer than Somalia or Bolivia.
- l0b0 7y agoIt's sad how every such article is flooded with excuses basically amounting to "it's not identical to the our situation in every single particular, so it couldn't possibly work for us." The world would be a much better place if people were willing to learn from people outside their bubble.
- pier25 7y agoIt's a great achievement to produce 100% of your electricity from renewables but this title is misleading. Cars, planes, trucks, etc, still run on fossil fuels. Costa Rica also heats water with gas, like most countries. Also, Costa Rica has always been a low emissions country. In 2014 they had 1.6 per capita, well below the 4.3 world average. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...
- effnorwood 7y agoNo, it hasn’t.
- ardit33 7y agoAlbania has been run on 100% renewable energy (hydric) for 50+ years now..... the only thermo-central power plant built, has been uncompleted and in-functional for decades due to the high cost of fuel. Usually smaller countries that have the resources can pull it off. (hydric in the case of Albania, as it is 70% mountainous and has a lot of rivers crossing it). The downside is that is very much rainfall dependent. There are years where it could actually export energy, and there are years that it has to import it to meet demand. https://i.redd.it/ul78e5rqdvt21.png https://i.redd.it/ul78e5rqdvt21.png For more in Europe: https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/bg6hnz/electricity_production_from_nonrenewable/ https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/bg6hnz/electricity_...
- rdmirza 7y agoThat's fascinating. Though it's not quite 100% renewable energy unless the energy being imported is also renewable.
- ardit33 7y agoTrue, but If it is balanced with the exports, then it is still zero overall. (eg. if your renewable exports are substituting dirty energy somewhere else). I don't know what the current ratio is, but I do know that Rainfall directly affects the GDP of the country by almost +/- 1%.
- rdmirza 7y agoYes, and no. Yes: the net impact on the environment is likely to be equivalent if imports and exports balance. No: a major criticism of renewable energy is that it is less reliable. Achieving 100% is much more impressive without a handicap. I'm still impressed though.
- xbmcuser 7y agoWith their mountains and rivers they could probably use hydro as backup for solar and wind generation and achieve 100% but with ability to buy electricity because of the connected grid unlikely to happen
- pmoleri 7y ago> As Costa Rica is a small country, it's much easier for it achieve these lofty goals, than say, countries like China and the USA, which are larger in size. Does this affirmation actually hold? Is it really easier just because it's smaller? In this particular case Costa Rica has a lot of natural resources that enable this. But in general I think that these changes depend more on willingness than country size.
- rossdavidh 7y agoIt struck me the same way. Presumably, you have a lot fewer people to work at pulling this off, also. That would be like saying, "of course it's hard for Costa Rica to achieve these lofty goals, with only a few million people to support it, whereas China has over a billion people". The particular resources, yeah, maybe, but that particular statement seemed silly.
- namenotrequired 7y ago> In this particular case Costa Rica has a lot of natural resources that enable this Maybe the clue is here? Presumably the USA and China have areas the size of Costa Rica that are as rich in resources as it but those are averaged out by the rest of the land.
- gnerix 7y agoThe grid in Costa Rica is also highly unreliable and many communities will run off oil & gas generators for extended periods of time (in addition to the comments that a majority trucks, busses, cars still run off of non-renewable sources.
- bmmayer1 7y agoThis has to be flagged for the quality of the news source. There are multiple typos in the article itself (the last word is "recieveing"). The homepage headline as of writing this comment is grammatically challenged: "The ‘Black Mirror’ tech billionaires are investing in to try and live forever" This article provides no sources, no footnotes, no authoritative evidence other than "purportedly..." It editorializes throughout and reads like it was written by a Romanian SEO bot. Do we have any standards on HN anymore, or do we just post and promote articles with clickbait headlines that make us feel good? Also, the post is from 2017. Come on, people.