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Cost Rica, leading the way ?
With a population of 5 million Costa Rica, usually thought of as a holiday destination, with its coasts on the Caribbean and Pacific Sea and wildlife most of us will only see in a documentary has been striving towards a green economy proving that it is possible.
The Costa Rican government has made a point in of using renewable energy in order to minimise the country’s dependence on oil however, the usage of cars has steadily increased.
The country has a steady 70% usage of electricity from dams, the Reventazón hydroelectric power plant, after consistent investment, is now the largest hydropower
plant in central America. However, a dependency on dams raises its own problem because even though hydropower is a clean method of sourcing electricity the
development of such projects is often criticised by environmental groups and animal activists, the Reventazón hydroelectric project was heavily criticised due to its position along a critical wildlife corridor. It must be noted that the Diquis damn in the south-west of the country, a plan for further hydro power stations, was cancelled in 2018 after a number of conflicts with indigenous groups.
The national energy plan of Costa Rica 2015-2030 has projected an approximate 520 MW production which would supply about 1 million homes with electricity, most of which would be supplied by hydropower. The Costa Rican government also advocates the use of biomass to make up part of the country’s infrastructure plan. It is of increasing occurrence that homes in Costa Rica are producing their own electricity in order to avoid the monopoly on the main grid. However, the
transportation infrastructure, Costa Rica, has an antiquated public bus system so, the ownership and usage of cars has steadily increased highlighting the countries
inability to escape from oil but also demonstrates the steady increase in the country’s economy.
In all of our articles on energy, at become carbon negative, we have criticised the use of anything with an embodied energy. As we have covered in our previous articles that embodied energy counteracts the ambitions for renewable energy and sustainability, follow this link to view our other articles.
The reason for raising a negative point about the Costa Rican efforts towards renewable energy is that the country’s plans do all require the continuing pollution
due to construction because even though hydropower has a great renewable and engineering pedigree considerable damage is caused by embodied energy that is,
the energy used to create the hydropower plant does do significant damage to the environment before the water begins turning the Archimedes screws to generate the electricity.
It is necessary to understand that everything has some form of embodied energy for example, the Costa Rican usage of dams, and that in the construction of the dams millions of tons of concrete would have been used and it is worth revising the fact that concrete is cement combined with aggregate and water and that the manufacture of cement contributes significantly to the construction sphere’s expulsion of CO2. It is worth noting that although the construction of dams and hydroelectric stations create pollution the pollution will be offset by the produced energy.
The Costa Rican government has made a point in of using renewable energy in order to minimise the country’s dependence on oil however, the usage of cars has steadily increased.
The country has a steady 70% usage of electricity from dams, the Reventazón hydroelectric power plant, after consistent investment, is now the largest hydropower
plant in central America. However, a dependency on dams raises its own problem because even though hydropower is a clean method of sourcing electricity the
development of such projects is often criticised by environmental groups and animal activists, the Reventazón hydroelectric project was heavily criticised due to its position along a critical wildlife corridor. It must be noted that the Diquis damn in the south-west of the country, a plan for further hydro power stations, was cancelled in 2018 after a number of conflicts with indigenous groups.
The national energy plan of Costa Rica 2015-2030 has projected an approximate 520 MW production which would supply about 1 million homes with electricity, most of which would be supplied by hydropower. The Costa Rican government also advocates the use of biomass to make up part of the country’s infrastructure plan. It is of increasing occurrence that homes in Costa Rica are producing their own electricity in order to avoid the monopoly on the main grid. However, the
transportation infrastructure, Costa Rica, has an antiquated public bus system so, the ownership and usage of cars has steadily increased highlighting the countries
inability to escape from oil but also demonstrates the steady increase in the country’s economy.
In all of our articles on energy, at become carbon negative, we have criticised the use of anything with an embodied energy. As we have covered in our previous articles that embodied energy counteracts the ambitions for renewable energy and sustainability, follow this link to view our other articles.
The reason for raising a negative point about the Costa Rican efforts towards renewable energy is that the country’s plans do all require the continuing pollution
due to construction because even though hydropower has a great renewable and engineering pedigree considerable damage is caused by embodied energy that is,
the energy used to create the hydropower plant does do significant damage to the environment before the water begins turning the Archimedes screws to generate the electricity.
It is necessary to understand that everything has some form of embodied energy for example, the Costa Rican usage of dams, and that in the construction of the dams millions of tons of concrete would have been used and it is worth revising the fact that concrete is cement combined with aggregate and water and that the manufacture of cement contributes significantly to the construction sphere’s expulsion of CO2. It is worth noting that although the construction of dams and hydroelectric stations create pollution the pollution will be offset by the produced energy.
Become Carbon Negative believes that the reduction in CO2 levels is a great start and should be continued but the planting and growing of trees is a more guaranteed
and cleaner way of cleaning the atmosphere and creating O2 as well as, more importantly, cooling the planet
and cleaner way of cleaning the atmosphere and creating O2 as well as, more importantly, cooling the planet
