Costa Rica showing the renewable future.

http://www.sciencealert.com/costa-rica-went-250-days-in-2016-without-burning-any-fossil-fuels

So what are we playing at?

It's an interesting article and approach but I think it's difficult for a country like France to apply. Costa Rica is not a big country and I think it's the reason why the government can to try this method. It's more difficult for a country like France to try in a long period this approach. Over 200 days with only renewable energy it enormous. France tries to reduce the carbon emissions with tax pollution or for example in Paris where the circulation is alternating, development of electric trams or train, photovoltanic panels on the road... I think that the french government is well aware of the environment destruction and tries to reduce. Maybe France could do better.

When I think of the power generated by nature through tides, wind and sun I think it's ridiculous to believe that any country is unable to survive through renewable energy. It's simply a matter of putting more effort into these and not pandering to the established industrial powers that control our country's policies.

I'm glad you mentioned the panels on the road, I was reading an article last week about the immense cost to the French public of this compared to installing solar panels of rooves.

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/12/worlds-first-solar-road-opens-in-france/

Yes but one shouldn't forget the power of lobbyists. I agree with you when you said that "it's ridiculous to believe that any country is unable to survive through renewable energy" because in the future industrialized countries will have to turn to the renewable energy because they will have no choice because fossil energy will have disappeared. But tomorrow and with Trump, who is not in favor of the environment respect, I think it's going to be difficult for USA...

Yes i also saw that on the news about the panels supplying power to the public lighting ! I find that really innovative to actually light the streets by walking or driving on panels which are on the road or sidewalks. Few years ago i did a work about whether it was possible to stop using fossil fuels and nuclear power plants. France wasn't the European bad pupil but was still very far from other countries even if the country has good strenghts with the different weathers (the wind from the coasts , the sun on the South...). Moreover we also saw that if one day we succeed to use only renewable energies , we will still face problems with our nuclear power plants. Indeed the fact to remove the nuclear plants will cost a lot and show environmental problems with the Uranium.

This article is really interesting. I agree with the fact that Europe and especially France should invest more in environmental solutions. However, I think we already do some efforts to reduce pollution and to use more natural means to satisfy our energy needs. For example, we have a lot of Wind turbines in France, which enable to produce energy with the wind. Moreover, the government tries to reduce carbon gas emissions by offering people the possibility, in big cities, to use a bike instead of their car... And as Candy said before, there are a lot of means that have been held by the governement. But now, the most important thing to do is to invest more on Research and Development. I think that a lot of inventions could be created in order to protect more the environment and make profit of it.

I agree with Maxime S, unfortunately for the case of France it's a little more complicated. Country size and demand is not necessarily the same, and it varies by country. However, one day we will have to arrive at this kind of thing, since unfortunately the planet produces its resources in a limited way, and one can not eternally continue to consume them with this intensity. What is projected to do the costa roca, but also the suede is something great. All the concepts that use nuclear power should come out of this process, and work on a 100% renewable energy project. But unfortunately it is more difficult for countries like, france, germany, and united states (with the new president it will be even more difficult), to be able to make radical changes of the sort. It may take a lot more time for the big nations, but with the new laws that are creating for the protection of the planet I hope we will get there.

I found this article was very interesting. I think the use of renewable energies is very important. It's really fascinating that they manage to use almost only these energies. But, germany try to increase their use too. They are only one third but it's already very good. France is far away. The amount of renewable electricity produced in France since 1970 has increased only slighty, while nuclear elecricity has taken a prominent place since the early 80's. For it to work, everyone needs to feel involved and act on its scale. For example, accept to have photovoltaic panel or a wind turbine next to your home..

MU Jiejie wrote:. However, "it's difficult" doesn't mean we could never do that.Even for Costa Rica, they spent several years doing it.  The right attitude should be "it's difficult, but we will try our  best", shouldn't we ? Not only for China, also for France, and any countries in the world.

I agree with You Jiejie! It's important that we change that! Pollution as well as destroying our beautiful landscapes also causes many diseases, such as respiratory diseases ! Moreover we notice that more and more people have cancer because of pollution in some cases.

I do not think it is possible in France. They are just 4 million in France we are 66 millions. Many more companies are established in France and consume a lot of electricity. And we do not have the same climate... The wind turbines have already debated on several points (Noise, spoils the landscape...), I think this method will be worse, It needs a lot of space (For solar panels) and investment. We could just hold a few hours...

I didn't know that Costa Rica was a step ahead of us. I think that this is great. We (European countries and USA) should take this as an example. I think that we cold do the same but because of politician we are not doing that much.