Month: March 2026

Europe has reached the end of winter with depleted gas reserves. A country has a model to save it: Spain

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This winter, which is coming to an end, is being colder than expected, something that as we have seen has caused havoc. Without going any further, there have been planes that have not been able to fly due to lack of antifreeze. If we talk about gas for heating, storage has also reached red numbers: the Netherlands has a reserve of approximately 12%, Germany and France are around 21%, according to AGSI data. In this low-minimum scenario, there are two countries that deviate from the norm: Spain and Portugal, with reserves of 56.87% and 76.7%, respectively. Of course, the difference in capacity is abysmal: 3.57 TWh for the first and 35.9 TWh for the second. It is not a coincidence: it is that the Spanish state has a particular infrastructure that has led it to this point. The context. The conflict between Ukraine and Russia that began in 2022 accelerated the independence of the old continent from Russian gas. Among the measures from Brussels, an emergency rule by which all EU member states had to start the winter with their gas reserves at 90% to ensure supply. However, in 2025 the EU decided to maintain that 90% target. but relaxing the norm to optimize costs. This greater flexibility together with a harsher than expected winter has brought an end to winter with reserves that are at their lowest in the last five years. The harsh European winter. In mid-January, deposits fell below 50%. If the winter ends with a capacity of 30%, Europe will have to inject 60 billion cubic meters of gas. To get an idea, approximately the annual gas consumption of all of Germany. In short, Europe has to refill its tanks in the summer and it will need a lot of imported gas to do so, which means go out into the market and face other competitors and the logistics of bringing it here in an increasingly complicated geopolitical scenario. The Spanish strategy. The Spanish gas storage system is based on two pillars: underground storage and LNG regasification. The second leg is providential, insofar as it is where Spain makes the difference and, furthermore, It is a powerhouse. In fact, Spain owns 35% of all LNG storage capacity in the EU, how Sedigas collects. Its enormous regasification capacity enables diversification of origin, with USA as first supplier with 44.4% of the total gas and another 15 different countries later, according to Enagás data. Spain has an infrastructure of seven plants that makes it possible to receive LNG ships from different sources, thus ensuring supply in case any mishap (technical problems, conflicts, political decisions) fails. Spain started the winter making decisions. Although the previous strategy gives it an advantage over other member states, Spain adopted a conservative strategy When facing this winter 25/26, adjusting to concentrate reserves in January and February, the coldest and with the most demand. A management decision to not waste that cushion prematurely. He was absolutely right: in January gas consumption rose 10.2% compared to the previous year, with a 30% increase in that destined to generate electricity because renewables contributed less than expected. Spain plays in another league. Thanks to its infrastructure, Spain no longer only consumes gas: it re-exports it. It has become a hub for redistributing gas to Europe as a kind of energy logistics platform, providing geopolitical and economic value to a state that, due to its geographical location, is isolated (which, for example, in the electrical field plays tricks on him) Is there real risk? While it is true that widespread shortages are not expected, there are localized risks in Europe. As summarizes El Economista, Spain has precedents of similar levels, such as 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, where supply was not compromised. Of course, we will have to see what happens with the demand for LNG in summer globally, because it could make European replenishment significantly more expensive. In any case, Spain will get to that moment better than most. The scenario is not very rosy at the moment, precisely, with the Strait of Hormuz closed and the diplomatic crisis between Spain and the US, its main supplier. In Xataka | Europe believed it had won the gas war against Russia. Now it faces a much more uncomfortable reality: its dependence on the United States. In Xataka | The gas market becomes unpredictable: we have tanks full and ships on the way, but the price remains an enigma Cover | Pronor

when they arrive they find a field

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The Basque Country has encountered a problem curious: urban planners who move to the countryside attracted by its lifestyle and end up desperate because of that, because of how people live in the countryside. It sounds like gibberish, but it is a reality so present in the community that the regional government has come to denounce it. “People come to towns thinking that they are a haven of peace where you can only hear birds and everything is green, they come with the wrong idea,” warns Iker Aguitrre, from the Union of Farmers and Ranchers of Álava (UAGA). The problem is that these clashes add (even) more pressure to rural areas. What has happened? That Euskadi is proving to what extent it is difficult to repopulate rural areas with people from the cities. Does a few daysduring a parliamentary intervention, counselor Amaia Barredo acknowledged her concern about how the arrival of urban populations seeking bucolic environments, havens of peace and silence are affecting some rural areas, and in reality they find something different: farms with tractors, cattle ranchers and cattle. “Agrarian activity has become residual in many rural areas, even annoying, and we are beginning to have other problems derived from the expectations of the urban population that is looking in the countryside for other externalities of the landscape, of air quality, which are seriously altering the future of rural areas,” lament the regional leader in statements collected by the SER network. Click on the image to go to the tweet. What is it referring to? Barredo has not limited himself to pointing out the problem. Also has gone into detailsciting cases in which the false expectations of people who arrive in the field collide with the realities found there. “We will have to focus on why a livestock farm or poultry activity bothers a town or why sheep pass through the town and stain, we already have a council to talk about it,” lamented the Basque councilor. “It’s funny, but that’s how it is.” Curiously, and despite the concern that the matter arouses in the Government, the issue is not included in the Rural Development Strategy of Euskadi, which just presented Barredo herself. The document outlines a series of measures (12 lines of action and 38 specific actions) to transform the Basque countryside in the remainder of the decade, focusing on issues such as housing, mobility or health. Is she the only one to report it? No. Barredo’s words have had repercussions due to her position, but she has not been the only one to publicly warn of how the arrival of city residents can “seriously alter the future of rural areas.” Iker Aguirre, director of UAGA, launched a similar message these days: “People come thinking that this is a haven of peace where only the birds can be heard. They come with the wrong idea of ​​what the countryside is.” Although “the majority” of people who arrive from urban areas end up “integrating”, the problem comes from those neighbors who move with a wrong image of what life is like in rural areas. “Here you get up early, the tractors go from one place to another, there are smells, noises…”. And in case there were any doubts about the importance of integrating, Aguirre give an example in the opposite direction: “I may feel uncomfortable in the center of Vitoria because of the traffic, and those who come from the city have assimilated those noises; but those from the countryside saturate them.” Are they specific frictions? It doesn’t seem like it. And not only because the issue is serious enough for the industry advisor to recognize it. In an interview With the SER, Aguirre explains that complaints have reached the UAGA and does not rule out that there are “many more” of which the association is not aware. The reason for the lawsuits? The leader speaks of clashes caused by issues such as loose dogs that scare cattle or complaints caused by the presence of livestock excrement on rural roads or even the noise made by cowbells. “We all try to adapt, but there are limits,” he says. Is it a problem? Yes. And not only because of the discomfort it generates or the extra pressure it adds to agricultural operations. Frictions can also complicate the transfer of population from cities to rural areas, one of the lifelines of ’emptied Spain’. It is not a minor issue if we remember that in the country there are more than 1,200 locations that risk “disappearing” from the map, with just over a hundred residents registered, a reality to which the Basque Country is not foreign. Precisely the strategic plan that the Basque Country has just launched seeks that settling and working in rural areas “continues to be a real and attractive option.” In statements to The Country Aguirre warns that friction between farms and newly arrived rural residents has already translated into real problems for some Spanish ranchers. “There have been towns where years ago there was an influx of many people from outside and the sheep farms had a lot of problems because the sheep shit on the roads,” he recalls. “It has to be protected and perhaps we have to educate that the countryside is not idyllic.” Does it only happen in the Basque Country? No. A few years ago a town in León it was news because it was proposed that ranchers had to collect the dung from their cows. The proposal generated such controversy that the authorities backed down, but at its core there was the same problem: the tensions between livestock activity and other uses of the territory, such as residential or even tourism. It is something they know well in France, where they have even promoted a specific law to protect the countryside from urbanites. A similar idea was raised a few months ago in Asturias: approve a standard that safeguards the rural environment and its traditional activities (including issues such as the mooing … Read more

The US has been looking from space for years at a huge brown ribbon in the Atlantic that goes from Mexico to Africa that should not be there

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The blue planet looks very different from space. We have internalized things like that the Chinese Wall is seen and it is not true: what is appreciated They are the greenhouses of Almería. Or a great old man desknown as the Great Dam of Zimbabwe. And for a few years now, NASA satellites they have been registering the presence of a brown stripe that extends across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not a big brown island or a continent, but it looks like it. What is that “brown continent”. It is a mass of brown algae that, according to research from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Florida Atlantic University in whose last record It weighed 37.5 million tons and surpasses the 8,000 kilometers in length, more than from New York to Madrid. And it has a name: the Great Sargassum Belt. Context. He pelagic sargassum It is a seaweed that historically has always lived confined to the Sargasso Sea. However, since 2011 NASA has been documenting its expansion into the open sea until what it is now: a brown strip that by the end of 2024 left the Gulf of Mexico and spread until it reached the coasts of West Africa. This phenomenon is actually a huge accumulation of algae that reappears almost every year with one exception: 2013. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is bigger than ever: evolution documented by NASA Why is it important. Because this stratospheric mass of algae is not only spectacular from a visual point of view: it has repercussions on the marine ecosystem, destroys beaches and even contributes to accelerating climate change. It is also an ecological alarm signal for the Atlantic. According to Dr. Brian Lapointelead author of the review of changes in pelagic sargassum and professor at FAU Harbor Branch, explains that it even caused the emergency shutdown of a Florida nuclear power plant in 1991. Why are they growing like foam?. Lapointe and his team have been investigating the evolution since the 1980s and have found that the nitrogen content in brown algae has increased by 55% between 1980 and 2020; the nitrogen/phosphorus ratio also increased by 50%. This change has occurred because brown algae no longer only feed on natural nutrients from the ocean, but also receive nitrogen and phosphorus from land thanks to human activity, such as agricultural runoff or wastewater discharge. The result is uncontrolled growth. Sargassum is transported by ocean currents, especially in floods from the Amazon, towards the Atlantic. There it thrives thanks to that extra supply of nutrients. An unaesthetic and harmful stain. Brown algae per se are not harmful and in fact, they serve as habitat for different species. However, its enormous presence has altered the ecosystem. Upon reaching the coasts, they begin to decompose, thus releasing hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that damages coral reefs, reduces the oxygen present and emits greenhouse gases. What can we do. In short: stop feeding them. After this exhaustive monitoring, the research team warns that humans should reduce nutrient runoff from the coast since, if this continues, more Great Sargassum Belts could appear throughout the ocean. In Xataka | The brutal floods facing Portugal and western Spain, seen from space In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space Cover | POT

Its shares have fallen 99% and threaten to sink it

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As I write these lines, X (the artist formerly known as Twitter) is full of memes and jokes about Fernando Alonso and the vibrations of the AMR26. I don’t know what happened to him in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. I don’t even know if, given what I’ve seen, He will at least be able to run on Sunday. The only thing that is clear is that Aston Martin is a meme factory. They have kept Fernando Alonso, capable of selling us the impossible. They have signed Adrian Newey, one of the most successful people in the history of Formula 1. And the preseason is summarized in that, in a year that Honda powers the team, Fernando Alonso has been seen walking with a Toyota Yaris through Monaco. Did you think it couldn’t be worse? Well, tell that to those who bought Aston Martin shares in 2018. Today they have depreciated 99%. The company’s fate hangs by a thread, mired in debts that seem like a slab that is impossible to lift. No clear candidates for purchase. With Lawrence Stroll, owner of the Formula 1 team and endorsement for his son to drive one of the cars, buying the company’s image to be able to use its name, colors and logo in the future. You can do it no matter what. And that’s not good at all. A life on the brink of bankruptcy The story of Aston Martin is a story of survival. Actually, few luxury companies can say that they have not encountered serious viability problems throughout their history. Ferrari, who sees the world burning around him and who seems untouchable on his throne, It was saved by Fiat in 1969. Lamborghini did not find stability until it was bought by the Volkswagen Group. Bugatti, which is also inside, it’s a money losing machine. And if we look at the British, Jaguar is in a process of reinvention. Lotus was bought by the Chinese conglomerate Geely and today little remains of what it was. McLaren is not much better than Aston Martin. As Raymond Blancafort explains in The Vanguardbarely 10 years had passed when Aston Martin encountered its first bankruptcy. After a first adventure focused on the world of competition, it was in the 1930s when the management at that time began to focus the company on street sports cars. Things would not improve later and David Brown, a businessman, would be the one to buy the company after World War II, assume the accumulated debts and pay his own tribute. And since then, Aston Martin sports cars have the letters DB associated with them. As the decades passed, the brand maintained two things: fame and debt. While James Bond rode around in his sports cars, the company’s buying and selling games marked the future. To the point that the company came to form Premier Groupthe umbrella under which Ford held Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo… and Aston Martin. Things would not end well (Ford announced historic losses) and In 2007 it changed hands again to go to David Richards, who already controlled the future of the competing company, with the support of an American banker and two Kuwaiti groups. In 2013, Mercedes joined the company with a small participation and the objective of sharing knowledge and developments. In 2020 Lawrence Stroll arrived. A more than complicated crisis We have stopped along the way because the arrival of Lawrence Stroll marked a before and after. In 2018, this Canadian businessman creates the Racing Point group and buys the Force India Formula 1 team. The following year, he formed a team with the Mexican driver Sergio Pérez and a debutant: his son Lance Stroll. It would not be until 2021 when Racing Point became the Aston Martin Formula 1 teamwhich remains in a completely separate structure from the car manufacturer. But how do you get to this point? At the same time that Lawrence Stroll was taking his first steps in Formula 1, the Canadian acquired 16.7% of the vehicle manufacturer. The agreement included that the Formula 1 team would inherit its name. For this, Stroll paid almost 240 million dollars and a rights issue of 417.5 million dollars was carried out, which already anticipated that his weight in the company would continue to increase. The promise was to get Aston Martin out of a complicated situation. With less than 6,000 cars sold, the company announced losses of more than 120 million euros, 89% more than the previous year. Stroll arrived with the intention of turning the Aston Martin DBX, its future SUV, into a luxury product. Yes to Porsche had rescued him with the Cayenneif Lamborghini was producing the Urus, Aston Martin would regain momentum with the DBX. The truth is that the car is being a failure. The British SUV has never had enough traction and nor did it have the advantage of the Cayenne or the Urus, which share a platform and development with other Volkswagen Group cars, which helps reduce the risks. The projections of selling 5,000 cars annually have remained at 1,000 units placed on the market each year. With the Aston Martin DBX in free fall, the next ones to jump off the cliff were investors. Since going public in 2018, the shares have fallen 99% and The company now costs just over 400 million euros. last summer Liverpool invested more money in signings than what the entire company costs. Although the SUV has not found its place in the market, the DBX has not been the only thing that has failed. In 2017 the development of the Rapide Ewhich was supposed to be a rival to the Tesla Model S. The project ended up being canceled for a very simple reason that was pointed out by Tom Stacey, a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University who worked for the company at BBC: In all parameters, the Aston Martin was a worse car than the Tesla. Not only that. Time has shown … Read more

the new newsletter from Xataka Xtra about the trends that are changing the present and will define the future

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‘Proxima X’ is one of the newsletters exclusives included in Xtrathe Xataka subscription plan. It is biweekly (we send it every other Thursday) and is part of a benefits plan that includes access to other newsletters, a consultation with editors and raffles and discounts exclusive for subscribers. The first draw, a 75″ TV. For years, one of the last questions that every Xataka editor has asked his interviewees has been “If we were having this conversation In five or ten years, what would we be talking about??”. Next X is our commitment to doing exactly that every two weeks: talking, analyzing and thinking about the things that will be central a decade from now. And yes, we know it is a risky job. But who was going to tell that group of bloggers that They launched Xataka in November 2004 that 20 years later that passion for gadgets, online services and digital culture was going to be fundamental to understanding the contemporary world? The lesson is clear: we have to live passionately in the present, to understand what will define the future. We will talk about AI, quantum computing, biotechnology and space exploration, yes. But we will talk about many more things, because what defines this newsletter is not a list of topics, it is a question: what’s next? And “up next” this week has been the profound effect that technology has on human societies. One in particular: boredom. Is it possible that one of the most unexpected (and important) consequences of all the technological development of recent decades is boredom? Well yes and, as I say, It is much more important than it seems. Other Xataka Xtra newsletters Chip War (weekly, every Monday): The semiconductor industry is the technological, economic and geopolitical battlefield of our time. Every week we analyze what is happening in the race for chips: from the tensions between the United States and China to the decisions of TSMC, Intel, SK Hynix or Samsung that will determine who leads the next decade. B-sides (weekly, every Saturday): Five curious and fascinating readings every week. Strange, counterintuitive or unexpected stories that we find on the Internet and that deserve your attention. From industrial accidents that changed the world to surprising scientific research or absurdities of late capitalism. More information | Xataka Xtra

The best applications to have local artificial intelligence on your mobile or PC, without needing a connection and with greater privacy

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Let’s tell you the best programs to install a local AI on your mobile or your computer. In this way, you can have the artificial intelligence directly on the installed device, without requiring an Internet connection and keeping your private data within the mobile phone or PC itself. The programs will allow you to install language models LLM open source, being alternatives to ChatGPT and company, and even being able to choose how distillates you want them. However, some of the desktop applications will also allow you to connect to cloud business models such as ChatGPT, Gemini either Claudealthough sacrificing privacy. In the end, the goal of this is have your own private ChatGPT and without the restrictions of online models, to be able to make all the questions you want. They will be less powerful and with fewer capabilities, since there would not be enough space on your mobile or PC to install complete models like the commercial ones, but good tools for quick questions and functions. Apps to have local AI on your mobile Let’s start with a small compilation of the best applications with which you can have artificial intelligence models installed on your mobile. Remember that models can take up a lot of space, so be careful and check your device’s memory. PocketPal AI This is the go-to mobile app if you want to install a local AI on your device. It is open source and freeand is available for both Android and iOS. It stands out above all for its ease of use, and for the many models available. PocketPal AI Integrates directly with Hugging Facewhich is the world’s leading repository for uploading AI models. Since it is integrated, you can download any model directly without leaving the application and without complicating things. MNN Chat This is an exclusive application for Android, and stands out for being one of the fastest applications for this operating system. But its biggest differentiator is your complete multimodal supportbeing able to write your prompts adding text, images or audio. You will find all kinds of models, from those for generating images to others for making responses with text. Has an integrated model catalogso downloading and installing them is a very easy task. It is a free and open source application. Private LLM If you are looking for a premium app for iOSthis is one of the best alternatives. Of course, it has a price of about $5 with a one-time payment. It includes more than 60 curated models, and uses advanced quantization to improve its performance. It also integrates with Siri and Apple Shortcuts, and in addition to your iPhone it will also work for your Mac or iPad. It also has customizable interactions and support for Family Sharing to share the purchase with your family. Google AI Edge Gallery Google AI Edge Gallery is a Google application for Android with which you can install different artificial intelligence models on your mobile. The app allows many uses, from image consultation to audio transcription or chats with AI, all locally. It is an open source project, and against it it must be said that It is a tool in developmentwhich means that there may still be quite a few bugs that will be corrected. Locally AI Another application for the Apple ecosystem, and optimized for Apple Silicon processors. Stands out for having a beautiful and careful interfaceadapted to Apple’s language, and for supporting the main open source models. What this app seeks is to offer you the experience of an app like ChatGPT but with free and offline languages, all local. Has local voice modelanguage and vision models, customizable prompt system, and both integration with Siri and Apple shortcuts. AnythingLLM An exclusive application for Android, although the model’s aspiration is to have a version for iOS. It has support for several small, fast and powerful models. They do not seek to offer a giant catalog, but rather have hand picked those they consider best and most optimized for mobile. This app also offers a default agent modeso you can use it with its models to search websites, read pages, interact with other applications or use your location. And if you’re looking for power, you can sacrifice privacy by connecting to one of the cloud models it offers. SmolChat We finish with another app to download and run popular AI models on Android, locally and offline. All this with an interface adapted to Android, and many customization settings. You can also pin your favorite chats on the home screen with shortcuts. Apps to have local AI on your computer We now continue with another small collection of applications with which you can download artificial intelligence language models directly on your computerwhether Windows, GNU/Linux or Mac. Ollama Ollama is possibly one of the most popular applications you can find to download AI models to your computer. The best of all is that it is multi-system, and you can install it in Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. It is also open source and completely free, and has a clean and minimalist interface. Its interface is chat, just like any commercial model, and you have a history of conversations. There is also support for dragging files, such as PDFs or images. You have a search engine for AI models to find the one you want with several versions. Jan With over five million downloads, this is an amazing tool. You can add open source models or connect private ones like ChatGPT, Claude and company. This gives you the versatility to become an excellent all-in-one, available for Windows, macOS and GNU/Linux. But there’s more, because Jan also offers the possibility of using connectorsso you can work with your AI in Gmail, Amazon, Google, YouTube, Google Drive and more. They are also working on a memory system, all storing data locally. LM Studio An open source application with a unified graphical interface, since you will be able to Search and download AI models within the program … Read more

Data centers have made the electricity bill more expensive in the US. And the Government has said enough

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Every time you ask a generative AI to solve a problem for you, a server on the other side of the world needs power to process it and cooling to keep from melting down. The problem is that this electricity meter that spins at full speed is not just that of the large technology companies: it is that of the entire community. The AI ​​revolution has a real physical and economic cost that has already begun to hit the pockets of families, unleashing a crisis that has forced the United States Government itself to hit the table. The US government has said enough. According to federal dataresidential electricity prices will increase a national average of 6% in 2025. Citizens, stifled by the cost of living, have begun to connect the dots and point to the huge data centers that are proliferating in their neighborhoods. As detailed Politicalthere are currently some 680 data centers planned in the country, gigantic infrastructures that will require energy equivalent to that of 186 large nuclear power plants. This brutal demand has provoked strong citizen opposition, how to explain Guardiannumerous communities have begun to reject and block these projects for fear that their bills will skyrocket. The pressure has been so strong that the rebellion has penetrated traditionally conservative fiefdoms. According to Financial TimesRepublican legislators in states such as Missouri, Ohio and Oklahoma have suggested halting the construction of data centers, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has pushed laws to regulate them and protect families from price increases. Faced with this scenario, Donald Trump’s administration has been forced to intervene. Washington’s “historical pact.” As reported The New York Timesexecutives from Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, OpenAI, Oracle and xAI made the pilgrimage to Washington to meet with President Trump and sign the so-called “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” (Ratepayer Protection Pledge). The objective of the agreement is to shield consumers from rising electricity costs. Technology companies have committed to “build, provide or buy” the new electricity generation resources they need, assuming 100% of the costs of infrastructure and improvements to the transmission network. During the meeting, Trump left a phrase that perfectly summarizes the sector’s reputation crisis: “They need help with public relations, because people think that if a data center is installed, the price of electricity will go up.” The president assured that, thanks to the pact, that “will no longer happen.” For their part, managers such as Ruth Porat (Google) or Dina Powell McCormick (Meta) confirmed their commitment to pay for the infrastructure “whether or not they end up using that energy.” according to statements published by the New York media. We cannot understand this move by Washington without looking at the electoral calendar. Politically, as they point out Financial TimesRepublican strategists alerted the White House that energy inflation was an imminent risk ahead of the midterm congressional elections (midterms). The Democrats, like Senator Mark Kellywere already using citizen anger as a political weapon, calling Trump’s pact a simple “handshake agreement” that was insufficient. And the clash with reality: a network to the limit. On paper, the promise sounds perfect. As the specialized media ironically says Engadget“big tech agrees not to ruin your electricity bill.” However, journalism and energy sector experts agree that there is a gigantic distance from words to actions. As he warns Political, The agreement is, in essence, a voluntary “handshake”, without binding legal force. Rob Gramlich, former economic advisor cited by CNBCremember that the White House has no direct jurisdiction over this matter: the rules of the electric grid are decentralized and depend on the public service commissions of the 50 states. It is they, and not the federal government, who approve how costs are distributed. The damage in some areas has already been done. Argus Media reports that on the PJM network —the largest in the US, covering 13 states and including the world’s largest data center cluster in Virginia—capacity costs have skyrocketed by $23 billion, record rates that are locked in until 2028, making it “virtually impossible” to lower prices for consumers in the short term. An independent watchdog came to describe this situation as a “massive transfer of wealth” from citizens to corporations. Competition for resources is fierce. Abe Silverman, researcher at Johns Hopkins University cited by Politicalcompares the situation to “a bidding war for a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert.” There is a five-year waiting list for gas turbines, and their prices have doubled. This technological urgency not only makes the network more expensive, but is stopping the green transition in its tracks. As they explain Argus Mediathe immense demand for servers cannot be covered quickly enough with renewable sources. This is forcing power companies to delay the closure of polluting coal plants and invest heavily in natural gas generation, perpetuating dependence on fossil fuels. The greatest risk, Silverman warnsis what happens if Silicon Valley is wrong in its growth calculations: “You spend 3 billion to improve the network, and then the data center does not materialize (…) Who is left with the problem? Grandma.” Should Europe demand the same? If we cross the pond, the situation is no less worrying, and the regulatory approach is drastically different. According to data from the European Commissiondata centers currently consume 415 Terawatt-hours (TWh) globally (1.5% of the world total), a figure that, driven by AI, will double to 945 TWh in 2030. In the European Union, consumption was around 70 TWh in 2024 and will jump to 115 TWh by the end of the decade. Europe has launched a mandatory monitoring system under the Energy Efficiency Directive to demand transparency about this consumption and its water and carbon footprint. But in Spain, the problem is already a physical jam in the networks. As we have described in Xataka, The Spanish electrical grid is like a saturated highway to which, suddenly, “a convoy of trucks of industrial tonnage” has arrived. The technical regulations of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) caused a “cascade effect” that blocked connection permits. The … Read more

that of the Shah of Persia

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There are fortunes that are built with decades of work and others that come directly from the underground. The one of Mohammad Reza Pahlavithe last Shah to reign in Iran, belongs to the second category. Under his kingdom there was one of the largest oil reserves on the planet, and during almost four decades in power, black gold he became the source of immense personal wealth that, at the time of his death in 1980, was estimated at some $2 billion. Adjusting it for four decades of inflation, it is the equivalent of about 7.2 billion dollars currently. What makes this story unique is not only the magnitude of the money accumulated, but also how that heritage was built. from the shadow through opaque foundations, hidden business holdings, and oil revenue streams that never appeared in any official ledger. a fortune as big as it is controversialbuilt on the oil of a country that would end up overthrowing him. A coup d’état, a throne and the keys to the tap As and how to collect Celebritynetworthto understand where that money came from you have to go back to 1953. That year, the CIA and the British MI6 executed the so-called Ajax operation, a coup d’état which overthrew Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, who had nationalized the oil industry in 1951, and returned the Shah to power with almost absolute authority. After the coup d’étatthe Iranian oil industry was restructured under a consortium of Western companies. Iran gained a larger share of revenue than before, but control of production remained in the hands of foreign corporations. In this way, the West maintained control over crude oil, but the Shah now had something equally valuable: direct access to the income that this resource generated. and the income was huge. According to published The World OrderIran has the third largest oil reserves in the world, only behind Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. With that resource flowing non-stop, the Shah found the formula to convert national oil into his personal wealth. According to publication CelebritynetworthIn 1962, for example, the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) made a payment of $12 million in a single month to an account controlled directly by it, an amount equivalent to $117 million today. And that was just what was known from a single month. Pahlavi Foundation: a holding company disguised as charity On paper, the foundation bearing the Shah’s surname was a philanthropic organization dedicated to funding schools, museums and hospitals. However, in practicefunctioned more like a personal holding company of the Shah, with active interests in virtually every sector of the Iranian economy. As and how I collected The New York Times By the late 1970s, the Shah’s foundation controlled stakes in more than 200 Iranian companies, including 17 banks, including the Bank of Omran, one of the country’s largest, 80% of Iran’s largest insurance company, 25 metallurgical companies, eight major mining operations, 25% of the country’s largest cement company, 45 construction companies, 43 agri-food companies and approximately 70% of hotel rooms in all. Iran. And that without leaving the country. The Shah also maintained relevant stakes in international companies such as Daimler-Benz, even influencing the development of the Mercedes G Classas well as real estate properties in London, the French Riviera and Manhattan. Palaces, airplanes and more than 140 collectible cars With billions of dollars flowing from the oil wells and no one to stop it, the Shah He lived the life of a true emperor. The Shah spent his time among the Niavaran Palacein the north of Tehran, the Sa’dabad resort in the Alborz Mountains, and several luxury retreats on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each filled with works of art, French furniture, silk rugs and hand-carved marble. But perhaps the most striking It was his car collection.: more than 140 luxury vehicles including custom Rolls-Royces, Bentleys and Ferraris, a Mercedes-Benz 600 Landaulet, a model so rare that only popes and dictators used it, and unique Lamborghini, Porsche and Cadillac prototypes. It also had a private aircraft fleetincluding a fully customized Boeing 727 nicknamed Shahbaz that he himself occasionally flew. His wife, Empress Farah, wore unique pieces by Dior, Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent, and for his coronation as empress in 1967, Van Cleef & Arpels designed her a crown of emeralds and diamonds with stones extracted directly from the treasures of the Iranian state. The Shah’s own crown contained more than 3,000 diamonds. The party that accelerated a revolution The most blatant moment of all this waste came in 1971, when the Shah organized what is considered one of the most expensive parties in history modern to celebrate the 2,500 years of the Persian monarchy. He had a city of silk tents built in the ruins of Persepolis, with air conditioning, gardens with trees imported from France, and a complete kitchen from Maxim’s in Paris. According what was published by Times At the time, the total cost was estimated at 100 million dollars, the equivalent of about 800 million dollars today, all for three days of toasts with rivers of champagne, caviar, sculptures of peacocks and fireworks in the desert. While the Shah entertained 600 guests including kings, presidents and aristocrats, a good part of The Iranian population was in serious trouble economical. By the late 1970s, inflation in Iran was skyrocketing, unemployment increased, and the gap between rich and poor had become unsustainable. Observers of the time detected suspicious discrepancies in the accounting of Iranian oil: for several years of that decade, until 2 billion dollars a year disappeared leaving no trace of official currency records. The 1978 protests They were not just political, they were against the Shah’s corruption with diverted money and against his obscene ostentation while the people suffered. In January 1979, the Shah fled Iran as a result of the uprising of the Iranian Revolution that would lead to power to the government of the ayatollahs. He would die the following year in exile, in Egypt, at the age of … Read more

Finding the cheapest gas station in your area is very simple thanks to this very powerful tool

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We have been very attentive to fuel prices for a few days. It is no wonder, since since the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran has exploded to the point of leaving the Strait of Hormuz in a compromised situation, oil has ended up skyrocketing and gas stations have already begun to notice the impact on their shelters. While the Government study what measures you can applyMany drivers go to those gas stations that have the cheapest fuel. And for this there are tools that the State itself offers. The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge made it available to any citizen quite some time ago, the Geoportal from Gas Stations, a free tool that allows you to know the price of fuel at all service stations in the country, so you can filter by the cheapest one in your area. It also has another very useful function: knowing how much has the price changed at every gas station. We tell you all the details below. What is the Geoportal and why is it worth it? The Gas Station Geoportal is a web application of the Ministry that collects the prices of all service stations in Spainupdated every five minutes. What you see on the screen is practically the real price of the moment. The tool has been available for years, but in situations like the current one, or like the one that happened with the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, its use makes special sense. Currently there are gas stations in large cities and in the main corridors that They already exceed 1.70 euros/liter in gasoline or 1.80 in diesel, while others remain below average. With a 50 liter tank, choose carefully where to refuel can mean quite significant savings. How to find the cheapest gas station from the GeoPortal To enter the Geoportal, all you have to do is enter this link. There is also a free mobile application for Android and iOS. It is called Route-E, and it is developed by the Ministry itself. In addition to gas station prices, it includes information on charging points for electric vehicles. When you enter the website you will see a map of Spain with marked service stations. On the left are the filters. The process is simple: Select “Service Stations” as search type. Choose your province and town. The map will automatically center on that area. You can refine it even further with the zip code if you live in a large city. Choose the type of fuel. You will find everything from the usual ones (gasoline 95 E5, gasoline 98, diesel A) to alternative options such as natural gas, bioethanol or hydrogen. As soon as you select one, the map will show the price of each station along with its schedule and operator. Mark “Sale to the public”. This excludes gas stations belonging to agricultural cooperatives or closed groups that are not open to any driver. Check the list ordered by price. When you have clicked ‘Search’, just below the map the tool generates a list of stations. Filter by price and the cheapest ones in the area should appear first, and you can export the list in CSV or Excel format if you need it. As extra information: yes you hover over any station on the map, you will directly see its price, schedule, rating and operator without having to click. There is an additional filter: “Discount plans”. If you activate it, the search engine shows gas stations with current promotions, either because they belong to a specific chain or because they offer discounts to groups such as transporters, farmers or taxi drivers. Mobile Apps If you prefer not to use the Ministry’s website, there are several free applications for iOS and Android that offer a similar feature. At Xataka we already talked about them a while ago, among which are GasofApp, GasAll, Gasolineras or GasOnline, among others. They all draw on the same official data and allow you to locate the cheapest stations near your location in real time. In addition to all of them, there is also Ruta-E, which is the one we mentioned before, but the rest of the apps offer (in our opinion) much faster and easier navigation. How to see the price history of any gas station Knowing the current price is good, but if you are curious about how the price of a specific station has evolved over time, you can also do it from the Geoportal. For that, just enter this page and complete the form that appears on the screen. You have two options to check the evolution of prices: through the price history or through a timeline per gas station. To do this you must: Selectr the interval of time. You can choose between daily, weekly, monthly or yearly views, and set a start date and an end date for the period you want to analyze. Heegir data series. Below in the form will be where you can decide if you want to see the evolution of the average price of all of Spain, of an autonomous community, of a province, of a municipality or of a specific gas station. Select the fuel. The menu includes all available: 95 E5 gasoline, 98 gasoline, diesel A, diesel B, LPG, natural gas, hydrogen and many more. Choose the type of graph. You can view the data in a line or bar graph, depending on what is most comfortable for you. The result is a graph that shows the evolution of the price in the chosen period. With it you can see, for example, how much diesel cost at the gas station in your neighborhood before the situation with Iran became tense and how much it costs today. Cover image | Geoportal and engin akyurt In Xataka | Cuts are coming for the most used Cercanías line in Spain. The reason: more capacity and driverless trains

The impressive thing about BYD’s new 1,500 kW chargers is not that they are ultra-fast, it is that they work at -30 ° C

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When less than a year ago we tried the BYD 1MW charger designed for heavy vehicles and capable of providing energy to travel 400 kilometers in five minutes (although with small print), we remember from the words of Stella Li: equals “the experience of filling a tank of gasoline.” But BYD has upped his bet with the second generation of its Blade battery, which brings two notable advances under its belt: greater energy density and an unprecedented charging speed. The goal of Build Your Dreams is for you to be able to charge an electric car while you have a quick coffee. Context. BYD is the firm that in 2025 ousted Tesla as the brand that sells the most pure electric cars. Their arguments are incontestable: the most competitive prices and control of their entire manufacturing chain. Because Build Your Dreams manufactures its batteries, semiconductors and motors, which makes it the Apple of the automotive industry, an advantage in cost, expertise and customization that no Western rival can match today. The key piece of that domain is its Blade batteries. Unlike conventional Nickel-Manganese-Cobalt batteries, it uses Lithium-iron-phosphate: less energy dense but safer. And it eliminates intermediate modules, inserting the cells directly into the pack, which reduces components and makes better use of space. In short: cheaper, safer and more compact. The first generation supported fast charging from 30% to 80% in 25 minutes at 120 kW DC. The middle generation with Super e-Platform reached 1,000 kW. The new technology. What BYD has announced are two systems developed in parallel and better understood together: the battery and the infrastructure. Blade 2.0 maintains its LFP chemistry but arrives with a redesigned cell architecture to gain 5% more energy density. The real leap is thermal management: it has solved fast charging in cold climates, so that it is capable of managing its very fast charging even at temperatures of -30 °C. The flash stations. They operate at 1000 volts, setting a new threshold for ultra-fast charging in the industry, and reach up to 1,500 kW per gun. To get an idea, right now in Europe the top chargers charge at 400-500 kW and are a rarity for poles and cars. These stations bring a new T-shaped design and a comfortable layout for larger fleets. They have announced 20,000 points of this type in 2026, most integrated within existing charging networks. Why is it important. Because if there are two arguments against the electric car, they are a lower range than its combustion counterpart and charging time. Anything longer than filling the tank is seen as a stone in the shoe. BYD’s figures compete with refueling, although logically they depend on whether we are using a compatible charger and car. And within the particularity of electric car charging, the cold is the staunch enemy of fast charging, a problem to take into account and which is not at all trivial in markets such as northern Europe or Canada. If the figures are confirmed in real conditions, it is a turning point. Video of BYD charging at –30 °C. Via: Twitter In figures. The improvements of Blade 2.0 and its Flash stations: Charge from 10% to 70% in just 5 minutes. Charge from 10% to 97% in 9 minutes. Charge from 20% to 97% in 12 minutes at -30°C. Maximum power per gun: 1,500 kW at 1000 V. 20,000 charging points in 2026 (China). Extra bonus: launch of the EV with more autonomy, the Denza Z9 GT (2026): 1,036 km under the CLTC cycle. How have they done it. As explained Wang ChuanfuCEO of BYD, these high charging speeds would inevitably overload the electrical grid, so their solution involves energy storage batteries. The company plans to partner with existing charging networks under a “station within a station” model. The flash stations do not connect directly to the high-voltage electrical grid, but charge themselves using existing conventional fast charging networks (120 kW) so that the batteries act as a buffer, which speeds up deployment and reduces the cost of a new electrical installation. Regarding the improvement of battery performance, improvements in cells with greater energy density and advanced thermal management enable ultra-fast charging even when cold, minimizing battery degradation. Yes, but. Although the figures offered by BYD are impressive, especially in cold climates, we are waiting to confirm them in live tests in real environments. In addition, you must also read the fine print: BYD measures from 10% to 97%, not from 0% to 100%, it eats up part of that slow start at the bottom and reaches almost to the end, where it falls again. On the other hand, Flash stations and cars point to a closed ecosystem (at least initially), we will have to see how the scalability of the system is and if they reach Western markets. Finally, charging 1,500 kW sounds like bells for the impatient, but doing it regularly means subjecting the cells to significant thermal and electrochemical stress. In Xataka | The BYD Atto 3 EVO is confirmation that China works at a different pace: more battery and the same price correcting its big problem In Xataka | If we ask the CEO of BYD why BYD is losing steam abroad, his answer will be extremely simple. Cover | Xataka

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