Costa Rica Off Fossil Fuels for 75 Days and Counting

According to an article by Myles Gough, Costa Rica "has achieved a major clean energy milestone, meeting 100 percent of its power demand with renewable energy for 75 straight days."

Gough cites a press release by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE)—a state-owned power supplier.

"The ICE says the country's zero-emission milestone was enabled thanks to heavy rainfalls at four hydroelectric power facilities in the first quarter of 2015," report Gough. "These downpours have meant that, for the months of January, February and so far March, there has been no need to burn fossil fuels to generate electricity." Costa Rica also has the benefit of a mixture of geothermal, wind, biomass and solar energy.   

The accomplishment comes with a few caveats, specifically that Costa Rica is a small nation of 4.8 million residents with a tourism-based economy that does not require the energy required by heavy manufacturing industries.

A separate article on the accomplishment by Sophie Vorrath notes that Costa Rica "already has an outstanding record on efficient, clean and cheap electricity generation, ranking No. 2 in Latin America for providing a household coverage rate of 99.4 per cent at some of the region’s lowest prices."