Today we had a long but enjoyable day.  We had a long bus ride from La Fortuna to Monteverde to start off the day.  Halfway through the ride we made a stop at some wind turbines and learned more about renewable energy.  One thing we learned that stuck out to me was that Costa Rica generates nearly 99% of its electricity from renewable resources.  After that we spent some time at Monteverde Café which was a super cool experience seeing the ins and outs of their business.  We finished the day off with a beautiful night hike through the rainforest.

            Renewable energy has lots of pros and it makes a lot of sense why Costa Rica values it so highly.  From the standpoint of wind turbines, Costa Rica produces clean electricity without polluting the environment.  Their dependence on wind power reduces its dependence on imported fossil fuels which ultimately helps local businesses save money.  A place like Monteverde Café benefits from renewable energy because its cleaner energy helps preserve the forests, wildlife, and cool climate that visitors come to experience.  All in all, renewable energy has such a huge impact on Costa Rica and is one of the main reasons it is such a beautiful and clean country.

            Although there are many pros there are also some cons.  Sometimes, taking the renewable energy approach can be very expensive.  Wind Turbines don’t just magically appear, it takes a lot of money for them to be built and maintained.  Because of this, energy costs might increase for a place like Monteverde Café.  Also, renewable energy can be very weather dependent.  Wind Turbines are very useless if there is little wind.  The amount of energy produced my turbines can be inconsistent.  Although there are some cons to renewable energy, I think what Costa Rica is doing is awesome and it really helps their country stand out from others.  Costa Rica is a tourist hot spot and I believe that comes from its beauty from renewable energy.