Epic Energy Achievements in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has managed to run on renewable energy for 113 days straight, putting it on course to break its own record from 2015, when it relied on nothing but renewables for 285 days of the year. In total, Costa Rica provided 99% of its energy needs last year with renewables alone.

The country's geography helps a lot. The majority of this power comes from hydroelectric plants, which are possible thanks to lots of rain and lots of mountains. But Costa Rica is also diversifying, with ventures in geothermal energy, and also solar—after all, a country doesn't want to rely on a single source for all its power, especially in these times of unpredictable climate change.

In five years, Costa Rica plans to be carbon neutral. With electricity, this is completely achievable, it seems. But it still runs its cars on gasoline, so switching to electric cars will be far harder. The governments plans on work on offsetting those carbon emissions in other ways.

Epic Achievements by Costa Rica!7

Read more about these epic achievements here

Opec Concerned about the Growth of Biofuel Production

by Matt Hartwig, and published on the Renewable Fuels Association

Just when America had all it could handle with the intense political struggle on Capitol Hill and around the country, a new column by Financial Times Commodities Editor Javier Blas tells us that the internal politics of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, may be far more troublesome.

Blas reports that after nearly a decade of relative cooperation among the member countries, the coalition is beginning to unravel. Blas warns that the more moderate voices in the cartel (yes, amongst this group Saudi Arabia is the moderate voice) are losing their influence.

Instead, rogue nations like Iran and Venezuela are exerting more influence in a drive to keep global oil prices above $100 per barrel. Previously, this level was thought to be too high and would result in demand destruction that the cartel sought to avoid. But no more. As Blas writes, “The hawkish camp needs much higher prices than it did over the last decade to survive economically. Venezuela, Iran and their allies need oil prices above $100 to balance their budgets after years of expansionary policies, generous subsidies and rampant military spending.”

That last rationale for higher oil prices should give everyone pause. Nations with expressed ill-will and desire to see America fall are seeking to bolster their efforts by increasing the rate of wealth transfer from America to oil-rich regimes. Americans are already sending nearly $1 billion a day overseas to pay for our oil addiction.

All of this comes against a backdrop of American political angst and misleading efforts to derail America’s pursuit of renewable alternatives to oil. Many lawmakers, including those claiming to be tough on countries hostile to the U.S., are seeking to undermine the growth and evolution of American ethanol and biofuel production and cement oil’s position as the default American fuel. They are seeking to prevent the installation of blender pumps that offer consumers a choice when refueling. They are seeking to pull the rug out from under and industry that is still maturing and threatening to derail the progress of new ethanol technologies like cellulosic ethanol production. The only outcome of such policies is higher gas prices and an increase in oil imports – the exact outcome for which Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are cheering.

The black and white of it is that ethanol is the only alternative to oil that is having any impact on America’s voracious oil appetite. The use of 13 billion gallons of ethanol in 2010 reduced America’s need for imported oil by 445 million barrels – more oil than we import from Saudi Arabia annually.

Moreover, ethanol is reducing the pain American’s feel at the pump as a result of oil markets being held hostage by the whims of OPEC. According to a report from respected economists at the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development, the mere presence of ethanol in the market kept gasoline prices $0.89 lower than they otherwise would have been in 2010. That is a savings of some $800 for the average American family.

The impact of ethanol can even be seen in oil pricing around the world. As RFA’s Geoff Cooper noted in his analysis of the unusual and growing spread between the West Texas Intermediate crude contract at the terminal in Cushing, Oklahoma and the Brent Crude price in the UK, “… ethanol now constitutes 10% of the U.S. gasoline pool and represents a rapidly growing share of U.S. refinery input. In other words, the glut of North American oil creating the logjam at Cushing is in large part the result of increased ethanol production and use. Larger ethanol supplies are eating into U.S. oil demand and putting downward pressure on WTI prices.”

To be clear, all OPEC members are concerned about the growing role of biofuels. In confidential 2010 U.S. Embassy cables recently uncovered by WikiLeaks, Ambassador James Smith stated that the Saudi assistant petroleum minister had expressed concern that Saudis could be “greened out” of the U.S. fuel market by biofuels like ethanol. According to the cable, “Prince Abdulaziz (the Assistant Minister of Petroleum) noted that in 2009, the U.S. for the first time consumed more ethanol domestically than Saudi oil. Saudi officials watched the ethanol debate with great interest…”

Even the “moderate” voices in OPEC are concerned about the growth and potential of American ethanol production to replace the need for imported oil.

With the motives of OPEC nations clear, it begs the question, “Why would we let them off the hook?” Instead of seeking to turn back the clock to the days of gas lines and oil embargoes, the nation should be seeking ways to expedite the growth and evolution of the American ethanol and biofuel market. Sadly, as is the case within OPEC, politics are threatening to trump sound policy.

To read more visit the Renewable Fuels Association Site here

500 houses to get solar panels as part of clean energy project

As part of a pilot program to promote clean energy, the roofs of 500 homes in Costa Rica will receive solar panels that can produce electricity for the company Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL).

The project will cost $1 million and be financed by CNFL, according to the Costa Rican daily, La Nacion. For the participants there aren’t any bills, but they will receive a monthly fee for renting their roof and allowing the installation of CNFL’s technical equipment. On each home, CNFL will place two 200 watt panels. The company will also install an “inverter” that can pass direct current to alternating current. In total, the equipment to be installed in each home will cost $2,000 and remain as assets of CNFL.

If a house uses more than 400 watts, the extra watts required will come from conventional electricity sources. If the demand is lower than 400 watts, the excess will go to the national electricity distribution system.

The first 300 panels will be set up between November and December this year and the last 200 in January 2012. The CNFL will soon publish a report on the process for selecting suitable houses. According to Henry Solis, the Director of CNFL’s Innovation and Energy Sufficiency Department, the main aim of the project is to show people how they can contribute to prevent climate changes. He also hopes that the project will lead to a greater demand for electric cars.

“The cost of this equipment is still very expensive and hard to finance, but it is expected that in 3 years a new generation of affordable panels will be available,” Solis said.

CNFL is the second distributor within recent years to launch a pilot scheme on distributed generation. Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) also started off its program in late 2010. ICE’s goal is to install 5 megawatt capacity wind-based generators, water, sunlight and biomass (waste). The plan includes many Costa Rican businesses and industries though the subscribers will pay for the cost of the equipment.

To read more on this story visit the Costa Rica News

What sets Costa Rica Apart?

Costa Rica has created a unique and holistic approach to its economic development and the environment, based around a system which pays for use of the environment.
More than 5% of the world’s biodiversity (an incredible one in twenty of every living thing on the planet) lives in Costa Rica and Costa Rica first recognized the value of this natural asset in the 1990’s when it set about forming a plan to protect it.

In most countries the environment ministry is effectively the “poor relation” – sidelined and hidden away. But Costa Rica did what no country had done before - it integrated the environment ministry with the ministry of energy, creating a department which looks after the environment, mining, energy and water.

As a result the ministry took a long term view on the country’s energy strategy. The result was that Costa Rica chose to invest in renewable energy sources. These were not the cheapest option at that time; however the ministry determined that over a longer term 25-50 years they would provide the best value. As a direct result more than 95% of Costa Rica’s energy now comes from renewable sources – hydroelectric, wind and geo-thermal.

Further recognising the true value of its environment Costa Rica was one of the first countries worldwide to impose a tax on fossil fuels. First introduced in 1997, the revenue generated by this 3.5% tax funds the National Forest Fund to pay indigenous communities for protection of the surrounding forests. As a direct result of this fund, deforestation in Costa Rica has been reversed with the land area under forest now more than double that of twenty years ago.

So what sets Costa Rica Apart? – it truly recognizes the value of its environment!