Many countries have avoided shifts to renewable energy for a wide range of reasons including cost and difficulty. Not Uruguay! Amazingly Uruguay has made a huge shift towards renewable energy and now has electricity that is 95% provided by renewable energy sources. This was done in less than 10 years and it certainly is an achievement that puts many other countries to shame.
The main sources of energy used in Uruguay are now solar and wind. Somehow this shift was managed with minimal cost, no government subsidies and no price rises for consumers. Actually, electricity in Uruguay now costs less for consumers than it ever has in the past. If the problem of cost factor can be illuminated in this way then why is the rest of the world not doing the same?
According to Ramón Méndez who is the national director of energy in Uruguay any country can make the shift just as easily. He says that the success of the program depended largely on "clear decision-making, a supportive regulatory environment and a strong partnership between the public and private sector".
Uruguay also has plans to make changes in the transport industry in order to further reduce carbon emissions even further.
Sources: sciencealert, The Guardian, EQ International.