waves

Carrefour has this portable air conditioner without works so you can better cope with the heat waves this summer

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The summer heat waves They don’t let up and spending sleepless nights or working at home in the high temperatures can be very annoying and frustrating. For those who live in rent or simply do not want to get involved in renovations and wall installations, portable equipment or penguins continue to be the fastest and most effective way to keep the room cool. If you are looking for an immediate solution without making a large outlay, Carrefour has this portable air conditioner in its catalog. Carrefour Home HMAC9JT-25a model designed to cool medium-sized rooms without complications and that you can buy for 249 euros. Carrefour Home HMAC9JT-25 Portable Air Conditioner The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A good, pretty and cheap portable air conditioner The great balance of this portable air conditioner Carrefour Home lies in its balance between cooling capacity and ease of use. It has a cooling capacity of 2,250 frigories (about 9,000 BTU), more than enough power to air condition rooms between 15 and 20 square meterssuch as bedrooms, small living rooms or teleworking areas. Being a team of type penguinits implementation no professional installation required. Simply place it near a window, place the hot air evacuation tube using its basic kit and plug it into the mains. It incorporates multi-directional wheels and a carrying handle so you can comfortably move it between the living room during the day and the bedroom before going to sleep. Additionally, it includes a remote control to regulate the temperature and fan speed without leaving the sofa, as well as a programmable timer function so that the equipment turns off automatically during the night. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: Carrefour Home HMAC9JT-25 portable air conditioner ✅ THE BEST Without works or installations: does not require permits or modifications to the home; It is unpacked, the tube is placed towards the window and it begins to cool in minutes. Easy to move: Thanks to its multidirectional wheels and integrated handles, it allows you to air condition the living room during the day and move it to the bedroom at night. ❌ THE WORST Sound level… As with all monobloc portable air conditioners (with the compressor inside the device), the noise can be uncomfortable if you are a very light sleeper. Window efficiency… By requiring a tube to be taken outside, if you do not use an adequate sealing kit on the window, some of the heat from the street can sneak in. 💡 BUY IT IF… You live for rent is the perfect solution to get through the summer without having to drill a hole in the wall or invest in a fixed installation that you won’t be able to take with you. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… If you intend to air condition a living room of more than 20 square meters or a room with very high ceilings, this model will fall short. You may also be interested EVVO Clima Silent – Portable Air Conditioner up to 14000 BTU with Heat Pump The price could vary. We earn commission from these links DREO 10000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Webedia and Carrefour In Xataka | Silent ceiling fan: which one to buy? Tips and recommendations In Xataka | Best portable air conditioners 2026. Which one to buy and six recommended penguins

Heat waves are already affecting tourism in Spain and we must reinvent ourselves as soon as possible

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Than the heat waves affect our health It’s something we’re starting to accept the hard way. However, the fact that they also affect the economy goes much more unnoticed by us. For example, in Spain they are having an increasingly notable effect on tourism. He recently demonstrated it a team of researchers from the Rey Juan Carlos University. In it, as well as in an informative article published in Science Media Center (SMC), these scientists point out how heat wave episodes are related to the behavior of international tourists, especially those from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Two close but different years. To carry out this study, data from 2022 and 2023 were compared, obtained from both the Frontur survey of the National Statistics Institute and the AEMET records. July 2022 had one of the most intense heat waves ever recorded in Spain; although get ready for 2022, coming 2026. July 2023, on the other hand, did not have extreme heat episodes. When comparing the data, it was seen that tourism did not stop arriving in Spain in 2022, but it is true that its behavior changed greatly and, in certain cases, it also decreased. Heat waves are already part of the planning. Before, when we organized our holidays, we took into account factors such as price, proximity to monuments or the possibility of taking excursions. Now, heat has become another factor that is taken into account. In fact, according to a survey by the European Travel Commission (ETC), 81% of Europeans say that climate change affects the way they travel. Of all of them, 15% said they seek milder climates, while 14% said they avoid destinations prone to extreme heat. In the case of foreigners who come to Spain, the study by the Rey Juan Carlos University has above all observed a reduction in the duration of stays in periods of intense heat. Furthermore, at the same time, many tourists have changed their favorite destinations for cooler places, known as coolcations. This is especially noticeable in the case of English tourists. The islands, the most affected. The island territories, in which extreme heat is combined with humidity during heat wavesare the ones who have experienced these effects the most. Above all, the study by the Rey Juan Carlos University speaks of a very intense effect in the Balearic Islands. They don’t want to come back. According to another study carried out by Caixa Bank Researchthe probability of a tourist returning to Spain when their stay has coincided with an extreme heat wave is reduced by 13.8%. Furthermore, in case they return, they usually choose colder destinations. Change of dates. In another studypublished in 2024 by scientists from several Valencian research centers, simulations of coupled air-sea regional climate models were carried out to study the climatic conditions on the Spanish Mediterranean coasts in the coming decades. It was observed that the temperature could possibly increase by 1ºC to 2ºC between 2025 and 2034 and by 3ºC to 4ºC between 2055 and 2064, so it is likely that tourism in these regions will not disappear, but will shift to autumn and spring, when there will be temperatures more similar to those that have attracted tourists until now. Reinvent yourself or die… from the heat. Many countries are already taking measures to avoid a massive flight of tourism and, of course, Spain has not been left behind. Here, for example, bars and restaurants are required to close their terraces during the hottest hours of the day in periods of heat waves. The authors of the SMC article, for their part, predict that “it will be necessary to incorporate the climate variable in the planning and management of tourism, reinforcing the comfort of visitors through shaded spaces or air-conditioned rooms and services designed to reduce thermal stress.” In short, “hotel establishments can play a fundamental role in this regard.” Despite everything, Mediterranean tourism continues to be the favorite of Europeans And despite everything, the Mediterranean resists. The Mediterranean Sea is a clear indicator of the evolution of climate change. The accelerated warming of its waters has raised the alarm about an increasingly worrying situation. However, its many tourist attractions continue to face heat waves; Well, despite everything mentioned, the south and the Mediterranean of Europe they remain the main option for spring and summer holidays, attracting 60% of European travelers. It does not seem that we are going to have a massive flight from tourism, but it is clear that it is going to transform, with shorter stays and early or late vacation periods. You just have to see how flights to tourist cities like Rome experience big price drops in August, only to suddenly rise in October, when temperatures stop being so stifling. In short, given that climate change, for the moment, is here to stay, tourism must reconvert. It must be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Now also climatically. Images | Magnificent In Xataka | Sea temperature continues to rise and experts are clear: “It is partly favored by the start of a new El Niño phenomenon”

Leroy Merlin reduces this portable air without works with which to alleviate the heat waves this summer (and also the cold of winter)

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If you are looking for a quick way to air-condition your home without getting into construction trouble or having to call installers, Leroy Merlin has just reduced one of those air conditioning devices that not only saves you the summer, but also the winter. It is about the Equation Cool&Heat 9K portable air conditionerwhich you can buy today for 259 euros. EQUATION Cool&Heat 9k 2236 fg/2150 kcal heat pump portable air conditioner The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A 4-in-1 penguin ideal for any time of the year The great advantage of this portable air conditioner It is its enormous versatility. We are not looking at the typical noisy device (it is not silent, mind you) that ends up collecting dust in the storage room as soon as September ends. By integrating a heat pump systemthis device is capable of becoming an efficient heating system for the winter months. To this, we must add its functions of fan (ideal for sweltering but not extreme days) and dehumidifierwhich makes it a key ally to combat environmental humidity that makes the thermal sensation at home much heavier and more annoying. with his refrigeration capacity of 2,236 frigoriesit is perfect for medium-sized rooms and another of its great assets is its philosophy Plug & Play. Forget about having to call an installer or drill holes in the wall; You just have to place the device near a window, place the hose with the sealing kit included and connect it to the power to start cooling any room in your home. Furthermore, having a compact design, multidirectional wheels and integrated handles, you can easily move it around the house according to your needs, keeping the living room cool during the day and moving it comfortably to the bedroom at night. This portable air conditioner comes equipped with a very intuitive LED display and a remote control so you don’t have to get up from the sofa or bed when changing the mode or speed of the air flow. It also incorporates a Night Mode and a 24-hour programmable timer. ⚡ IN BRIEF: offer for Equation Cool&Heat 9K portable air conditioner today ✅ THE BEST Zero installation complications: You save community licenses, technicians at home, drilling walls and hundreds of euros in labor. It’s just arrive, unfold the window kit and plug it in. Use 365 days a year: The inclusion of a heat pump prevents the device from being a useless “junk” during the winter, guaranteeing the return on investment throughout the year. ❌ THE WORST Sound level… As in all portable air conditioners, the compressor is inside the device itself and not on the façade, which generates a continuous noise level (between 50 and 65 dB) that can bother light sleepers. Efficiency compared to a fixed split… Although it cools quickly and directly, it consumes a little more energy than a fixed inverter system to maintain the same temperature in the long term. 💡 BUY IT IF… You live for rent. It is the definitive solution if your landlord does not allow work to be done or if you do not want to invest money in a property that is not yours. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You need absolute silence in the room to fall asleep, the constant hum of the compressor can be uncomfortable at night. You may also be interested EVVO Clima Silent – Portable Air Conditioner up to 14000 BTU with Heat Pump The price could vary. We earn commission from these links INFINITON | Portable Air Conditioner | PAC-S10 | 3000 Frigorias The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Webedia and Leroy Merlin In Xataka | Silent ceiling fan: which one to buy? Tips and recommendations In Xataka | Best portable air conditioners 2026. Which one to buy and six recommended penguins

Spain is going to have three heat waves in six weeks. AEMET is clear: it is no longer a wave, it is the climate

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Spain has just signed its start to the warmest summer in the historical series. There it is nothing. Between June 1 and July 15, the average temperature was 3.3 ºC above normal. In these six weeks, we have suffered two official heat waves, an extreme episode that did not become extreme and, according to AEMETwe are already on the rise of the next wave this Sunday. So much so that the heat begins to be the least of it. The central question of 2026 is simple: if we cross the heat threshold three times in five weeks, isn’t something broken in that threshold? In Xataka "It’s brutal": Meteorologists have taken a look at the heat forecasts for next week and they are not optimistic The third wave does not exist yet. I don’t want to mislead anyone. AEMET has issued an information note (it is not yet a special notice) and this is because, although we know that there will be a generalized thermal rise, the criteria remain extremely strict. Spokesman Rubén del Campo talked about temperatures “extraordinarily high” and maximum temperatures of up to 44 ºC in the southern half. But the duration, extent and strength is yet to be defined. What is clear is that, if it were not, it would be just barely. That’s why what happens next week doesn’t change the general picture. Not only would it be three or four extreme heat episodes in six weeks, but some climatologists such as Jorge Olcina They also add the “Saharan advection at the end of May” and speak of four episodes in eight weeks. With old reference periods, we would probably be in those terms. But how explained José Ángel Núñez and Rubén del Campo On the agency’s official blog, the definition is not touched, precisely, to see things like what we are seeing. That is, what the threshold is doing is clearly showing that everything is changing. According to the agency’s own studybetween 2001 and 2025 Spain registered 91 heat waves compared to 43 in the period 1976-2000, and the days under the wave went from 210 to 510. This summer does not fit the threshold, it is true. But it fits perfectly with the trend. In Xataka Today the heatwave begins and the meteorologists are clear: "They paint coarse for the Mediterranean regions of Spain" And that’s the problem. The ISCIII MoMo system, the statistical model that indicates excess mortality, attributed 3,649 deaths to the heat last summer, the second worst figure of the decade. The problem here, as we pointed out a few days ago, is that in 2026 we will already we have spent half of that excess before the dog days begin (the worst part of summer). Meteorology has shown us that, at any moment, the situation can change suddenly. What remains is to wait, but the feeling that the world is changing faster than our adaptations to it has stopped being a fear and has begun to become something very real. Image | Meteociel In Xataka |Neither London nor the United Kingdom: the NASA map that reveals where the grayest sky in Europe is (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Spain is going to have three heat waves in six weeks. AEMET is clear: it is no longer a wave, it is the climate was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

“With increasingly frequent heat waves, more importance could be given to urban trees”

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The asphalt radiates heat, the air becomes dense and thermometers shoot up, and anyone who has walked through a big city in the middle of summer knows the abysmal difference between crossing a square concrete in full sun and take refuge under the canopy of a wooded park. The problem is that, for decades, modern urban planning has treated trees and green areas as mere “urban furniture” or a dispensable ornament to beautify the streets. A big change comes with the climate emergency that we have above our heads, and the scientific community points to the need to make a radical paradigm shift. They specifically propose that urban forests are no longer seen as something merely decorative, but rather that they must be protected and financed with the same priority as the electrical grid, sewage or telecommunications. Under investigation. A published essay At the beginning of the month in PLOS Climate has dotted the i’s after years of scientific evidence and launched a petition to governments to legislate on urban forests, considering them as essential infrastructure for climate resilience. This positioning, which functions as a roadmap, does not emerge from nowhere, but is directly aligned with the most serious warnings of recent years, including the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. In this document, the United Nations already pointed out sustainable urban planning and green infrastructure (such as parks, urban forests and vegetation covers) as key and irreplaceable adaptation and mitigation measures against global warming. Our shields. To understand why scientists urge legally shielding trees, just look at the physical data. As stated in a recent academic review on urban forests as “nature-based solutions”, the presence of forest mass In cities, it directly attacks two of the worst symptoms of climate change, which are heat waves and torrential rains. This is because trees mitigate the dreaded “urban heat island” effect through evapotranspiration and thermal shading, dramatically reducing surface temperatures. At the same time, they act like giant sponges by acting as critical structures in regulating stormwater, preventing catastrophic flooding, and acting as natural filters that improve air quality. Public health. The impact of trees goes far beyond thermodynamics, since various studies compiled in publications such as the one published in ScienceDirect have demonstrated that the lack of trees is, literally, a public health problem. For example, an article published in 2023 shelled the physiological, psychological and immunological mechanisms by which green cities transform our health, reducing chronic stress and improving our immune response. But the evidence on biodiversity and cardiovascular health is still impressive, since the evidence indicates that being exposed to diverse urban ecosystems reduces the incidence of heart disease. The experts. Daniel Jato, professor of Engineering and Environmental Management at the UIV, pointed out in statements to SMC that “in the current context, marked by increasingly frequent, intense and early heat waves, perhaps the role of urban trees could have been emphasized even more.” Images | sq lim In Xataka | César Franco, engineer: “In Spain we are not immune to the effects of climate change, we need to intensify conservation”

The Rhine is running out of water due to heat waves. And that is a logistical and energy disaster for Europe

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A new wave of extreme heat is hitting the heart of the European continent, and the consequences go far beyond the records in thermometers or the fact to see raised tram tracks. The Rhine River, Western Europe’s most important river highway, is seeing its water levels plummet and the result is that a logistical bottleneck is being generated that threatens the supply of fuel and fundamental raw materials for Europe. The worry. The alarm has begun to be raised when it has been detected that the barges that navigate the river can barely carry half of their capacity, putting the supply of an important part of Europe in check. And all because of these heat waves that we are experiencing in Europe. To understand the magnitude of the problem, you have to look at how inland navigation works, since the Rhine is not limited to water crossing Germany, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands, but is an industrial artery. Literally, coal for thermal power plants, chemicals for industrial giants, oil or automotive components are transported through this river. The drought. When the flow of the river begins to decrease, its depth also decreases, and this collides with vessels that have a critical threshold. This means that if the water drops below a certain level at key points such as the famous Kaub bottleneck in Germany, captains are forced to drastically reduce their load to avoid running aground on the river bottom. This makes load 50 or even 30% of the boat’s capacity It is not an exaggeration, but a physical necessity. This triggers a domino effect that means that, if a ship carries half the load, it takes a second to do the same work. And since there are no infinite ships, transportation prices skyrocket and goods either do not arrive on time or become very expensive. It’s not just the Rhine. Although the exact impact figures should always be taken with caution because they vary greatly depending on the stretch of the river and the type of vessel, the general diagnosis is incontestable. Here the Joint Research Center of the European Commission has studied in-depth how limitations due to low water levels impact European rivers. Its scientific framework perfectly explains the current collapse, since low levels not only reduce cargo capacity, but completely alter continental logistics flows, drastically increasing operating costs. The reasons. Here the different institutions are clear that the problem lies in the lack of rain in spring and the lower amount of snow accumulated in the Alps during the winter, which causes the river to lose its natural “reserve” for the summer. But also, the Rhine is clearly warming. This not only has clear economic effects, but also serious ecological impacts on the river’s fauna, which in turn forces additional restrictions to be imposed. The new normal. What we are seeing this year does not seem like an event that remains a simple anecdote to tell our grandchildren, but rather the different evidence indicates that seeing low flow will be increasingly frequent due to climate change. The proposed solution involves the use of AI to predict exactly when we will see these very low flows to optimize the supply chain, or simply build flat-bottomed boats with better drafts to be able to continue transporting cargo when the river is at even lower levels of flow. Images | Wikipedia In Xataka | Global warming has stepped on the accelerator at an unprecedented rate and we are getting closer to the point of no return

This is the Basque project that wants to convert waves into cheap electricity

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On May 12, a 42-meter steel buoy was towed from the Bilbao estuary to the open sea off Armintza. It is not the first time he has made that trip. It already did it in 2016, endured three winters with waves of up to 14 meters, generated electricity and returned to port with something equally valuable: data. Now it comes back improved. The Basque firm IDOM has released the Marmok A-5 again in the Cantabrian Sea, and this time he knows exactly what he has to prove. It’s not just another test. The promise of wave energy is not small. As he explains to the magazine Renewable Energies IDOM wave engineer, Patxi Etxaniz: “The amount of resources available worldwide is brutal; if we are able to obtain that energy in an economically profitable way, we have solved the global energy problem.” The problem, until now, has always been the same: extract it without ruining yourself in the attempt. The race to achieve this is fought by just a dozen or fifteen actors around the world: the Swedish CorPower, several Scottish engineering companies, companies from France, Wales, Finland and Italy, and Asian actors from Korea, China and Japan who, in the words of Etxaniz, “do not publish anything, they are very discreet.” IDOM is already in that group. The Cantabrian piston. The Marmok is, in essence, a buoy with a cylinder of water inside. As detailed Europe Wavewhen a wave arrives, that column of water rises and falls like a piston, compressing and expanding the air in an upper chamber. In this way, this air flow moves a turbine that generates electricity and, finally, an underwater cable takes it to land. The technology is called OWC – oscillating water column – and the new Marmok has improved it on three fronts, according to BiMEP: new turbine with controllable blades, intelligent control system with onboard batteries, and radically simplified anchoring. This latest change was born directly from one of the most costly and dangerous problems of the first campaign. As Etxaniz explained: “The anchorage we had worked well, but we needed a lot of divers, and they are expensive, and their work is dangerous: underwater, with ropes with a lot of tension, one of them whips you and you can have a serious problem.” Problem detected, problem solved. In this new campaign, in addition, the Marmok will connect to the grid for the first time through the HarshLab platform, a floating laboratory integrated into the BiMEP infrastructure, which will allow both to evacuate the energy generated and to monitor the behavior of the system in real time. Twelve years of work. The Marmok did not appear overnight. Its first models were tested at the El Pardo Hydrodynamic Experience Center in 2012. From there they went to the Tecnalia laboratories, then to the BiMEP offshore facilities in Mutriku, and finally to the open sea in October 2016, where it became the first wave energy converter connected to the electrical grid in Spain and one of the first in the world. Behind that journey was the team from the Basque company Oceantec. IDOM saw the potential, hired them en bloc and integrated them into its structure. More than a decade of work, financing from the Basque Energy Agency and support from the European innovation program EuropeWave later, what began as a laboratory prototype is today, according to BiMEPa device ready to advance towards pre-commercial phases. As Borja de Miguel, project manager at IDOM, summarizes: in statements collected by Europe Wave: “Achieving secure installation and grid connection at BiMEP is a key step in bringing wave energy closer to commercial reality.” What’s coming Over the next few months, the team will verify the performance of the new systems and progressively increase operations. The data collected by this campaign will serve two purposes: demonstrate results to EuropeWave and decide what the next phase of development will look like. The objective is not academic. It means lowering costs until a Cantabrian wave can compete, in price, with any other energy source. There is no date for that yet. “It will depend on the investment,” says Etxaniz. But the window exists, the group of applicants is small, and Basque engineering has been learning to read the sea for more than ten years. The Marmok already knows how to survive three stormy winters. Now you have to learn how to do it cheaply. Image | EuropeWave Xataka | For years, wave energy was the ugly duckling of renewables. AI and data centers have taken a turn

In Barcelona they did not drop below 19°C on an April night. And that’s more important than all the heat waves

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It’s one piece of information, just one. But he alone weighs more than all the daytime maxims combined. Barcelona-Fabra just broke the record of a century with a nighttime minimum in April above 19 degrees. And yes, 19 degrees seems little compared to the 33-35 that the Guadalquivir Valley experienced that same day in the morning; But if climate change has been teaching us something for decades, it is that appearances can be deceiving. That anomaly called ‘April’. Although it is not being as scandalous as January, April is breaking all historical records. The fact that has been repeated the most is that AEMET has recorded more than 70 records temperature only in the first time of the month. In aggregate terms, we are talking about a sustained thermal anomaly of between 5 and 10 degrees. And it is interesting because, although it is evident that we are not talking about a ‘heat wave’, experiencing an anomaly of this size in this context is something tremendously revealing. Not only because they are the temperatures that most affect the population’s rest, but because they are the ones that rise the most due to the effect of climate change and the ones that best explain where the country’s climate is going. But what has happened? On April 10, at the Fabra Observatory in Barcelona, ​​at the foot of Tibidabo, the minimum it did not drop below 19 degrees. That is, it is the warmest night in at least a century. And it was not an isolated event: the ALmería airport registered a minimum of 23.3 degrees that same night. That’s two degrees higher than the previous record. The month, as I said, has had more than 70 temperature records. AND, according to Duncan Winger of Tiempo.comwhat awaits us between the 18th and the 24th looks to be much worse. The explanation is simple… because it arises from two combined elements: a subtropical ridge installed on the peninsular vertical that blocks the arrival of Atlantic storms and a very warm air mass from the south that causes little relief at night. …but the fact that it is ‘explainable’ doesn’t reassure anyone. Above all, because we come from 9th warmest winter on record and an especially hot February with an anomaly of more than 2.4 degrees above average. Everything seems to indicate that the meteorological data show the structural warming that the models indicated. But… what can we expect from all this? First of all, be clear that nights are becoming a problem. Without leaving Barcelona, We know that mortality from natural causes in the city it increases up to 9.2% on nights when the temperature does not drop below 23 degrees. There are more consequences, of course: a good part of the country’s agriculture is in critical phases and the Mediterranean is getting so hot which is going to cause innumerable problems. But warm nights before HVAC systems are turned on are a public health risk that is difficult to control. Image | BenBaso | Xataka In Xataka | In two days, AEMET is clear that spring is suspended: an “early summer” arrives in Spain

wants to extract infinite energy from the waves

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In the global race for decarbonization, humanity has managed to tame the wind and the sun, but the waves of the sea still resist it: the wave drive It is still a sleeping giant within renewable energies. Although the energy potential of waves is immense (unlike wind or solar, the contribution is continuous), the challenge lies in its effective technical use. In this scenario, Galicia has taken a step to place itself at the forefront of marine energy with Innomara project to move from theory to practice with the first floating prototype in Spain capable of connecting marine generation devices and evacuating the energy produced to land in Punta Langosteira, one of the most demanding marine environments on the planet. The project. It consists of designing, manufacturing and installing a next-generation floating prototype, a floating multi-connector with integrated sensors that will act as a central hub: it will connect multiple marine electrical generation devices and evacuate the energy produced to land through a single line. In addition, it will also integrate sensors to monitor in real time the waves, wind, currents, tides and marine biodiversity in the waters of the Outer Port of A Coruña. Why is it important. Because Spain is one of the leaders in solar and wind energy but in wave driving it is still in its infancy: as explains the XuntaInnomar is the first system of its kind in the state as there is currently no marine energy experimental zone in the country with a similar multi-connector. The extracted energy could be used for self-consumption in the port of A Coruña and the surrounding industrial estates, contributing to the energy decarbonisation of the port environment. More generally, this prototype allows companies to validate their projects in a real environment and speed up the development of their own patents in a sector with enormous growth and export potential, which means taking a step towards energy and technological sovereignty. Context. Wave energy is one of the great pending issues of the energy transition: the technology to exploit it has been in the research phase for decades without making the commercial leapAmong the main problems, the unpredictability of the waves (yes, they are constant, but they vary in height, rhythm, direction) and the harsh conditions of the marine environment when designing and maintaining it. However, recently we have seen promising initiatives in the United States and in Japan. And be careful, Europe is also taking the race seriously: United Kingdom, Portugal either Denmark They are investing in similar test zones. In this scenario, Punta Langosteira is a first-rate strategic asset: as explained by MITECO and IDAE in the official roadmap of offshore wind and sea energy in Spain, is considered the second area in the world with the highest concentration of wave energy, only surpassed by the south coast of Wales. Bottom line: if it works there, it has a good chance of doing it anywhere else in the world. In detail. The prototype will function as a smart laboratory on the high seas: with an underwater cable to bring electricity to land, sensors to monitor biodiversity and the marine environmental environment, and it will also be a kind of testing platform where different components can be tested. The project has been promoted by Inega (Energy Institute of Galicia) and its budget amounts to 5.7 million euros, of which 60% is financed with FEDER funds. There are seven companies that have submitted candidates for the prior selection, whose award is scheduled for September 2026, following a Public Procurement of Innovation model. Yes, but. The location is magnificent, the European co-financing provides solidity to the project, the model between the Administration and the private sector provides the best of both worlds and also the multi-connector hub approach is technically intelligent since it reduces redundant infrastructure, lowers costs and allows testing several wave converters in parallel. In short, they have everything in their sails, but the technical challenge is immense. Furthermore, the prototype is still a connection and measurement infrastructure, but it does not generate energy. Effective generation will depend on the devices that connect to it in the future, technology that is still far from being commercially mature. And here again the unknowns and viability appear again, since the cost per kWh of wave power is notably above wind and solar. That there is interest from the main actors is good news, but it does not imply that the leap to an effective solution is just around the corner. In Xataka | The United States is launching giant spheres into the sea with one goal: to take advantage of one of the largest sources of renewable energy In Xataka | With oil skyrocketing, Japan has resurrected an old idea to extract infinite energy from the ocean Cover | Deensel, Wikimedia and photoholgic

resort to the waves of the sea

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If we take a look at the weight of renewable energies in energy generation (for example, in Europe), we are going to find that some, such as wind and solar, are the ones that call the shots while others have a testimonial contribution: this is the case of wave drivebetter known as wave energy. Yes, the resource is there to take advantage of (and in some places like the Cantabrian coast to give and give away), but it is one thing to surf and another to obtain energy. Because the waves that reach the buoy this morning have nothing to do with those that do so in the afternoon: another height, another rhythm, another direction… it is part of the charm of surfing but it is also a nightmare to get electricity. The wave works, but it is unpredictable and not constant, which reduces efficiency. So Takahito Iida, a researcher at the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering at Osaka University, has come up with a solution to that problem that he has published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics: a rotating steering wheel. The invention. The device is called GWEC (Gyroscopic Wave Energy Converter). The idea in essence is a rotating flywheel inside a floating buoy that allows you to extract maximum energy from the waves regardless of their frequency. It does not follow the movement of the waves, but rather converts it into a perpendicular rotation that drives a generator. The trick is to adjust the rotation speed of the steering wheel in real time: this way the system adapts to the sea instead of waiting for the sea to adapt to the ideal conditions of the device. Why is it important. Because wave energy continues to be the eternal promise of energy and the oceans They cover 71% of the Earthaccumulating a large amount of energy. All previous systems failed in something: they are optimized for the resonant frequency, a single and specific one. At that moment it reaches its maximum efficiency of 50%, the maximum that physics allows. Iida’s GWEC is capable of maintaining it across the entire frequency band. Context. The time to publish the paper could not be better: the price of oil exceeds 100 dollars the barrel and Japan 95% matters its own in the Middle East, so the search for alternatives is urgent. The basic idea is not new, the novelty is knowing how to control it so that it performs at its maximum regardless of the sea. In fact, the concept was patented in 1981 by engineers Laithwaite and Salter and prototypes have been tested since then in Japan, Spain and Italy. What no one had done until now is a complete theoretical analysis that explains how to “tune” the system in any wave condition. How do you do it. Iida develops for the first time the complete equations of the entire system, including the waves, the platform and the gyroscope, and also identifies the optimal control parameters (the stiffness of the generator, its damping and the speed of the flywheel). Likewise, it shows that with the system well adjusted, the system can reach the theoretical physical limit of energy absorption: exactly half of the energy carried by each wave. Why half? A wave arriving at a symmetrical body is divided equally between symmetrical and asymmetrical components. A device with only one type of movement can only capture the asymmetric component. Be careful, it’s not that more can’t be absorbed, but it would be necessary to have asymmetric geometries (such as the salter duck) or more complex systems. Yes, but. Iida has tested his device and equations on a laboratory scale, where practice has been adjusted to theory, but it is still a device under controlled conditions. The declared next step is tests with a physical model in the wave channel of Osaka University Additionally, there are other limitations such as it only works with small waves (if the waves grow, the physics is no longer linear), which reduces its efficiency. The author is clear: the valid range of the amplitude is too small for real use. Similarly, mechanical losses have not yet been quantified. In Xataka | Something is happening in the oceans for which we have no convincing explanation: the waves are disappearing In Xataka | When an earthquake hit Kamchatka, tens of thousands of people in Japan did the same: climb onto the roofs Cover | Jeremy Bishop and David Edelstein

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