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| (Courtesy CIA.gov) |
A round of applause for Costa Rica: the small Central American country ran solely on renewable energy for 250 days of 2016, and over the whole year used renewables for 98.12 percent of its electricity needs.
The republic uses a mixture of renewable sources to generate its electricity including hydro, geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar energy, which meant it didn't need to touch fossil fuels for two-thirds of the year.
The biggest renewable contributor is hydroelectric plants, which account for 74.35 percent of the country's total electricity needs.
After hydroelectric, 12.74 percent of Costa Rica's energy needs in 2016 were met by geothermal power. Wind accounted for 10.3 percent.
