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Diaspora Ministry “discovers” Armenian communities in Costa Rica, Nicaragua

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YEREVAN. – Armenian communities were discovered recently in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, with 400 and 380 Armenians, respectively.

Minister of Diaspora of Armenia, Hranush Hakobyan, informed about the aforementioned at the year-end press conference on Tuesday.

In her words, there are 30 thousand Armenian organizations, 38 pan-Armenian organizations in 20 countries, and 1,004 Armenian schools in the world.

“Twenty-six more Armenian schools opened this year alone,” added Hakobyan. “We [i.e. Armenians] have 821 communities in the world, [and] with which we work. We have Armenian institutions and organizations in 112 countries.”

Costa Rica closes 2015 with 99% renewable energy

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renewables_.nCosta Rica has boasted that almost all of the energy it has produced in 2015 came from renewable sources, making the small Central America country a global leader in green energy.

“We close 2015 with 99 percent of clean energy!” announced the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) on Facebook, saying that “the energy produced … in 2015 reaches 98.95 % with renewable sources as of December 17.”

According to the group, the country managed to power 285 days in the period from January 1 through December 17 using only renewable energy.

“We are closing 2015 with renewable electricity milestones that have put us in the global spotlight,” AFP cited ICE electricity division chief Luis Pacheco as saying, predicting even better results for Costa Rica’s energy sector in 2016.

Costa Rica even managed to surpass its energy targets, despite the fact that 2015 “had been extremely dry,” ICE added.

Three quarters of the country’s electricity comes from hydroelectric power stations – Costa Rica has abundant river system and experiences heavy rainfall. Other sources of green energy are geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar.