Central American nation set to smash its own 2015 green power record
By Tom Embury-Dennis for the Independent
Costa Rica’s electricity has been produced entirely using renewable energy for 300 days since the start of January.
With more than a month of 2017 to go, the Central American country is set to smash its own annual record of green energy use. In 2015 the nation went 299 days using only renewables.
According to the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), the nation of five-million people has also clocked up 201 consecutive days of total renewable energy production since 1 May.
Costa Rica currently generates more than 99 per cent of its electricity using five different renewable sources; hydropower (78%), wind (10%), geothermal energy (10%), biomass and solar (1%).
In contrast, the United States generated about 15 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources in 2016, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
Coal and natural gas together made up nearly two-thirds of US electricity generation and nuclear power provided the remaining 19 per cent.
