Bike Tours are increasing in popularity and Costa Rica is responding

The Costa Rican Ministry of Transportation is seeking to modify the country’s road culture by adding 5 designated bike paths in popular locations.  A bike path has already been added along the road to Puntarenas on the central Pacific coast. Guanacaste is supposed to inaugurate its bike path this month.

Puntarenas and Jaco is Costa Rica’s most rapidly developing region due to its booming tourism industry as well as real estate development. Bulding bike paths is a natural progression of offering the infrastructure that is expected by international travelers and the growing national tourism sector. The key to this development is to created added safety to visitors who choose to travel on bike. Bike tours are becoming increasingly popular method of exploring Costa Rica.

For the nationals in rural areas bike transportation is often the only method of getting to work, shopping, etc.  This can be dangerous sometimes for locals as they use the same highways that connects San Jose to the heavily traveled coastal areas such as Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limon among others. Large trucks, buses, and cars pose a real threat to bikers who share the same road. 

The bike path in Guanacaste is schedule to begin construction on April 27th.  The transportation department also has plans for 4 other bike paths ready to start construction and will be added in places such as Esparza, Liberia, Jaco, and Limon.  The areas where the cycleways will be added are highly visited or transited by local and foreign tourists.  There are still plans for the beach front boardwalk in Jaco, which will be another spot where bikers and pedestrians can safely enjoy the beauty of the ocean and Costa Rica.

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The program called Clean Development Mechanism claims its fame to the Kyoto Protocal where world leaders met to discuss and agree upon reduction in green house gases. The CDM bascially is set up for developed countries to buy their way out of pollution by purchasing carbon credits in developing countries. The theory stipulates that if money for ecological production investment is offered to developing countries, they would sieze the opportunity to build the infrastructure that emits less carbon footprints. Program leaders says that while the start up costs are higher for ecological mechanism, once created, it costs less to maintain and has dramtically less emissions of greenhouse gases.

The World Bank published a report called Development with Less Carbon:  Latin American Response to the Climatic Change Challenge.  In this report, Costa Rica is mentioned as one country that has demonstrated how to create financial value in environmental activities and preservation of endangered ecosystems.

This new source of income will be used to for the forestation and reforestation of parks within Costa Rica. Costa Rica also wants to become the first country in Central America to be carbon neutral by 2021. But many critics question the validity of the methods used to decide what constitutes an offest to a carbon footprint. The way the CDM is set up under the Kyoto Protocal, rich countries will be forced to transfer great sums of money to poor countries to offset their own emmissions. The Untied States would not agree to this type of extortion and many critics say that the CDM is smoke and mirrors because it does not address the underlying problems which is the burning of fossil fuels. Many experts feel the resources should be focused on alternative energy technology rather than justify pollution via carbon credits.

While the debate carries on, Costa Rica tourism industry knows the value of ecotourism and has been the leader of adopting clean and green policies. Many hotel companies such as DayStar Properites in Jaco are getting involved further by joining forces with local governments to help faciliate green policies and practices. Last year, DayStar which operates beachfront properties; La Paloma Blanca, Bahia Encantada, and Bahia Azul, brought two beach cleaning machines. These are the first type of machines in all of Costa Rica.

Roberto Dobles, Minister of MINAE, said that the industry’s that adopt ecological policies will benefit due to the public’s growing awareness of global warming. DayStar Properties in Jaco understands this relationship and has demonstrated this through its donation to the municipality and their in-house eco-policies of using non-toxic Housekeeping cleaners.

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This model of sustainability is not only eco-friendly, it’s economical as well! Costa Rica’s first fully self-sufficient home, which was opened to the public on Jan. 13, 2009 at the INBiopark in Santo Domingo de Heredia, has already received over 4,000 visitors. The home is 100% self sufficient and not only employs natural energy production technology, but also is designed to minimize water usage and maximize natural sunlight.

The home is the latest Project in this environmental theme park, and was created through an alliance with the National Power and Electricity Company (CNFL). The Biological Institute (INBIO) united with CNFL with the idea to offer conventional technology systems for use in the home that are environmentally friendly.

The “Greem” home has two rooms, a bathroom, a kitchen and a living area equipped with all the normal amenities one would find in a regular house like a shower, television, radio, etc. However, the difference is that this home harvests energy from the wind, organic products and sun to generate all the power needed to function.

There are three electricity generating technologies used to run the entire household: a windmill with a vertical axis which turns wind power into electricity, solar panels that convert the sun’s energy into electricity and a “bio-digestor” which uses organic trash to create “bio-gas”. The electricity combines into batteries that can last up to two days without any incoming source of electricity. This helps for night time as well as sun-less or wind-less days or when there isn’t enough organic trash to fill up the electric compost heap.

To conserve electricity used daily to light the house, the design allows that no light needs to be turned on during the day thanks to the large windows and a mixture skylights throughout. Some of the skylights are covered with a diffusing laminate that serves to spread the light, others with insulation and a more economical set are made of plastic bottles filled with water and a bit of chlorine to spread the light.

To counteract the heat that may be generated by this technology, the home has an air extractor on the roof to keep a cool environment. When artificial light becomes necessary at night, the energy conserving fluorescent light bulbs are attached to motion sensors so that they turn off when no one is in a room.

As for water, a series of roof top rain collectors lead to a filtration system, and the water is then purified and ready to drink, wash clothes, dishes, etc. Water used for such reasons is then recycled for use in the toilet. To conserve the amount of recycled water used in the toilet, there are buttons to let you decide how much water to use when flushing. A half tank is sufficient for regular use, while you may choose the full tank for heavier “loads”.

As for the shower water (purified rain water as well), the shower head delays the flow of water, saving up to 50% more water than a conventional shower head would. The water is then heated by two solar panels. One of the home’s solar panels costs your typical market price ,800 to ,500 dollars, though it pays for itself after three or four years. The other one was created out of plastic bottles and is much more economical, though it is not yet available on the market.

More energy (and $$) saving tips:

- Choose home appliances that have a seal of energy saving certification

- Use motion sensors that turn off lights when you leave a room

- Install water efficient toilets that let you choose the amount of water used

- Use water collectors to recycle rain water for your washing machine or toilet

- Instead of a glass pitcher, use a metal one in your coffee machine to keep it warm after you turn it off

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