ENVIRONMENT

Costa Rica has achieved a clean energy milestone by using 100% renewable energy for a record 75 days in a row. (Independent)

Use our resources to discover what other countries are powered up with renewable energy.

Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers’ Toolkit, including a link to today’s MapMaker Interactive maps.

Discussion Ideas

• Costa Rica has not used fossil fuels to generate electricity since December 2014. Why isn’t this data reflected in our MapMaker Interactive, which shows electricity generation from renewable sources?
  • Our data is slightly outdated. The map shows each country’s total renewable output from the years 2006-2010.

• According to the Independent, Costa Rica primarily relies on two types of renewable energy. What are they? Why are these sources smart energy choices for Costa Rica?
  • Costa Rica uses hydroelectric energy and geothermal energy.
    • Hydroelectric energy is a smart energy choice for Costa Rica because the country typically receives heavy rainfall, feeding healthy rivers and streams. Hydroelectric power plants on rivers or waterfalls can generate thousands or even millions of kilowatt-hours of electricity.
    • Geothermal energy is a smart choice for Costa Rica because the Central American nation sits over a very tectonically active area. (Zoom in on Costa Rica in our “Ring of Fire” map to see how active!) Earthquakes and volcanoes are common in Costa Rica, which is part of the “Ring of Fire” where the mighty Pacific plate is subducting beneath the smaller Caribbean plate.

• Take a look at our MapMaker Interactive map on hydroelectric energy. What other nations rely on hydroelectric energy to generate significant amounts of electricity?
  • United States
  • Canada
  • China
  • Russia
  • Brazil

• Take a look at our MapMaker Interactive map on geothermal energy. What other nations rely on geothermal energy to generate significant amounts of electricity?
  • United States
  • Mexico
  • Indonesia
  • Iceland
  • Italy
  • New Zealand

• Today’s MapMaker Interactive is actually a collection of six different maps, five showing the use of a different renewable energy source and one collecting the data from all renewable sources. What renewable energy source makes sense for your community? Think about the climate and physical geography of your region.
  • The five types of renewable energy sources in our maps are: wind energy; geothermal energy; hydroelectric energy; solar, tidal, and wave energy; and biomass and biowaste energy.
  • Does your community endure enough strong, sustained winds to make wind energy an efficient choice?
  • Does your community sit over a tectonically active area, such as hot springs, which may make geothermal energy an efficient choice?
  • Does your community exist near a strong river or waterfall, which may make hydroelectric energy an efficient choice?
  • Does your community endure enough sunny days to make solar energy an efficient choice?
  • Is your community a coastal region that experiences significant and predictable tidal range (the difference between high and low tides), which would make tidal or wave energy an efficient choice?
  • Does your community produce or collect enough biomass to make biomass energy an efficient choice?

• Is your community using any renewable sources of energy to generate electricity?
  • Click on your state in this map from the good folks at the U.S. Department of Energy. That will give you a list of utilities that use renewable sources, what those sources are, and the general cost per kilowatt-hour. It’s a great resource!

TEACHERS’ TOOLKIT

Independent: Costa Rica goes 75 days powering itself using only renewable energy

Nat Geo: Electricity Generation from Renewable Energy maps

Department of Energy: The Green Power Network—Buying Green Power