Yet another reason to move to Costa Rica. What makes those guys so sane?
In Central America the relentless upward trend in oil prices is provoking crisis in the parts of the region’s electrical energy system dependent on oil. Panama, Nicaragua and Honduras are the countries in the region most dependent on oil imports. Overall Central America sources over 70% of its energy requirements from oil, imported mostly from Mexico and Venezuela. Only Costa Rica has made determined efforts to avoid energy dependence on oil. Its State power company generates over 80% of its electricity from hydro-electric sources.
The neo-liberal privatization craze of the 1990s resulted predictably in little long-term investment in renewable energy from geo-thermal or wind generation. Opportunist foreign companies invested in quick and dirty oil powered generating plants to get a cut of the region’s wide open energy market. The same short term approach to the region’s transport needs has emphasised road infrastructure to the virtual exclusion of all other options.
Related Leave a Comment
No comments yet.