Spain has just overtaken the US as the biggest generator of solar power in the world with the opening of the world’s largest solar plant in Badajoz. The plant, named La Florida, is about the size of 77 football pitches and generates about 50 megawatts of power.

Not only is Spain doing great things on its own soil but Obama has also just approved a financing deal for a far bigger solar plant to be built in Arizona that will be built and operated by the Spanish company, Abengoa Solar Inc.

Spain is continuing to invest heavily in renewable energy which is great news because it still has to import the vast majority of its energy to fulfil its requirements, which we of course have to pay for. Keep up the good work Spain!

The standard ‘green’ bulbs otherwise known as CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) are not ‘green’ at all. They contain mercury (highly toxic substance) and should be disposed of accordingly, but unfortunately they just end up in rubbish dumps in the ground. It’s horrendous.

There are far better types of bulbs on the market now, namely LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs. LED has come on leaps and bounds in recent years, and can fulfil any need you have, from outside garden lights to cosy indoor lights with dimmer switches. They are significantly more expensive than both standard tungsten bulbs and CFL bulbs, but the benefit in terms of return on investment far outweighs any issue regarding initial cost. One study by Panasonic showed that their home 60W LED bulb would last about 19 years, based on daily average use of 5.5 hours a day.

An article in today’s Telegraph highlights the development and benefits of LED bulbs: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/greenproperty/7873021/Green-property-energy-efficient-bulbs.html

We advise, supply and install LED bulbs (installation help only required for large scale illumination requirements).

With that in mind, we have decided to do a short survey to firstly gain a better understanding of the levels of awareness regarding energy, the reasons for energy price increases and the options available to protect oneself. Secondly, we’re keen to understand more about the actions taken – or not, as the case may be – by those who are aware of the challenges ahead combined with the options available.

Increasingly, we find ourselves helping clients come up with solutions to complex challenges. Whether it’s providing the most cost effective solution for powering an entire property or whether it’s providing the most energy efficient and cost effective means for their heating/cooling requirements, our clients’ concerns indicate that escalating energy prices are becoming more of an issue.

However, to what extent energy has really become as issue on people’s minds is not clear to us yet. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate two minutes of your time to complete this very short survey. We don’t require any contact details unless you are interested in receiving the results in our newsletter, which you can sign up for in the right hand column of this site.

Please click here to go to our survey:

http://www.oasissolutions.es/more/surveys/

With eleven people tragically killed at the time of the explosion, we now also know that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of livelihoods in Louisiana – and probably Florida – will be severely affected through the onslaught of thick crude oil that will permeate every aspect of life along that coastline. Obviously the fishing industries are already in total disarray but the full effects from this ecological nightmare are unimaginable.

Of course, there are hundreds of questions being asked about why and how this could have happened, and to date, there have been very few explanations. However, the one thing we do know is that they were in unchartered territory. At 35000 ft deep, they were drilling deeper than ever before, and we now know that they were totally unprepared for anything going wrong at this level. Without getting into the ‘blame game’, the one very simple deduction we can make from this disaster is that we – as a world – are desperate for oil. To be taking such huge risks at such high costs is a clear indication that our accessibility to oil is fast running out.

Many people believe this to be a good thing in the long run but the fact is that right now we have an energy crisis. All over the world, despite the big concerns from an environmental perspective, nuclear reactors are being built again at HUGE expense in order to try and plug the energy gap.

What does this mean? It means energy prices are going to escalate dramatically. What’s more, Spain is especially vulnerable in this regard because it generates so little of its own energy, and depends on importing it from elsewhere. The BP disaster is a wake up call to the world.

We need to all try and be as energy efficient as possible and use renewable energy whenever we can….to save our bank accounts from disaster and our planet from further catastrophes.

Over the years, we have worked with many different PM (property management) companies, some of them clearly better than others. For the sake of this feature, we decided to focus on two companies that have stood out for different reasons, ‘Soto Comfort Care’ based in Sotogrande, whose clients tend to be home owners not involved in the rental market, and ‘HomeCareontheWeb’ based in Elviria, who run a fully comprehensive PM service for the Costa del Sol, including an increasing focus on the rental market.

The main reason we have worked with PM companies is because a key part of the service they offer is to attend to any problems the property might have, and organise repairs/replacements accordingly. So more often than not, we have been contacted to repair all types of heating & cooling systems (air conditioning, solar heating, pool heating etc)but also electrical and plumbing problems. Having said that, we also have maintenance contracts via PM companies, whereby we routinely service all the mechanics in the property to prevent problems occuring.

In many ways, it is that proactive and preventative focus that is a defining feature of the best PM firms around. They can save the homeowner not just big headaches but a lot of money by being proactive and maintaining properties thoroughly so as to prevent expensive problems occuring. That is certainly a very important aspect of what Soto Comfort Care is all about. As the President of the company , Anne van Uffelen, says, “It is essential that a property manager takes a proactive approach to maintenance and supervision of the any property. That is why our people are continuously surveying  the member’s property…. for each client there is a system of pro-active maintenance to ensure that not only critical systems , but any system , operates satisfactorily at any time of the year , the owner present or not”.

Being ‘proactive’ is a trait that not all PM companies have, and that’s why we were especially impressed with another PM company – HomeCareontheWeb –  who run a slightly different type of service, with the ‘rental’ market being a bigger factor for their business. Tony Sidebottom, founder of HomeCareontheWeb said that they have to be proactive in order to provide a specialist management service to meet owners’ needs for long-term and holiday lettings, including finding rental clients and managing the whole rental process from start to finish . What’s more he goes on to say that they “contact their owners via regular email newsletter to notify them of new products, offers and company news. For example, in January the company told their owners about a new product to control the use of air conditioning units, and set-top boxes for their televisions to prepare for the digital switch-over.” As he aptly summarises “Being proactive is the best way to help owners control costs and prevent problems”.

It has become very clear to us over the years, that absent property owners that don’t have a PM company in place usually end up far worse off for it. Obviously, giving responsibility for your property to someone else requires a huge amount of trust. That is why at Soto Comfort Care, “Every member of the company has its own dedicated comfort manager , a one to one relationship with the owner . The comfort manager is the unique point of call and as the title says , they care for the owners property and they look after it as if it were their own.”

When the founders of HomeCareontheWeb bought their holiday house 23 years ago, they couldn’t find anyone they trusted to care for their property, which of course was the inspiration behind setting up the business. As Tony explains “Not knowing where to turn,  we explored the options – from larger property management companies to local ‘one-man bands’ – but the experience convinced us that there’s a big difference between ‘managing’ a property, and really ‘caring’ for it.”

Although we’ve covered some of the most fundamental aspects of the PM service, the innovative and professional firms do far more than most people would realise. Yet again, both of these companies stand out in that regard. At Soto Comfort Care, Anne explains that their service goes way beyond what you might expect from a PM company including “administrative tasks such as paying bills , managing insurance portfolios , supervising and managing live-in personnel or simply subcontractors , dealing with the authorities on various administrative and fiscal matters . We offer a full range of services and the member , our client picks and chooses . Our pricing is fully tailored to the client’s needs and wishes . Never are there any surprises .”

At HomeCareontheWeb, the client can be fully involved and up to date via their own interactive website: “What really sets the company apart from its competitors is our advanced interactive website, which includes everything owners need to manage their properties from afar. Each owner has a secure online account management area where they can schedule cleaning before they or their guests arrive, check on the status of maintenance actions, book time to spend in their properties, view and pay invoices and much more, at just a click of a button.”

So our advice to any absent property owner without a PM company is to hire one. Whilst it may seem like a cost now, it will probably save you money in the long run. Many of the repairs that we carry out for clients could easily have been avoided if they had invested in maintenance and care beforehand.

We should point out that whilst we featured two companies to highlight the benefits of good property management, there are of course many other great companies and we couldn’t interview them all. Below you can find the details of the two companies we interviewed along with several other property management firms that we know well and highly recommend:

http://www.sotocomfortcare.com/

http://www.homecareontheweb.com/

Talpa Services:     http://www.talpaservices.com/english/

Links Property Management (Keri Ruggero)     Tel: 952901404 / email: links@santageorgia.com

Lisa Ives (Mijas Villas)  lisa@mijas-villas.com  Tel: 952 590 861

We Take Care:     http://wetakecare.es/

One thing you will all know from the increases in utility bills recently is that our energy requirements are becoming ever more expensive.and will continue to do so at an alarming rate over the coming months/years.

The good news is that there are ways for many of you to protect yourselves, and it’s all to do with renewable energy and energy efficiency. The government of Andalucia is providing huge grants with regards to these issues, both in terms of solar installations and replacing household appliances (including air conditioning units) for more energy efficient ones.

Solar technology has the potential to generate huge savings for domestic and commercial purposes.  There are two types of solar installation, ‘thermal’ for generating hot water/heating and ‘photovoltaic’ for generating electricity. For most of us, it is the thermal solar installations that can be most cost effective and beneficial.

One of the main objections in the past has been the cost of getting solar installed in the first place and the length of time it takes to recuperate that cost. However, with huge grants available from La Agencia Andaluza de la Energia, that perception isn’t correct. Typically, we can acquire grants of 40-50% for thermal installations, but in some cases small businesses can get grants for up to 80% of the cost. What’s more, you don’t have to worry about the grant, because we pass on the discount directly to you. It is our job to apply for the grant to make up that discount.

To acquire these subsidies, the installation company needs to have all the correct paperwork and the necessary accreditation from the government of Andalucia, and Oasis Solutions is fully authorised in this regard.

The other major opportunity for many of us to save money both in the short term and the long term is through a scheme called PLAN RENOVE. This is another government initiative aimed at promoting energy efficiency, and it effectively means that you can get 25% discounts (up to a value of 300€) to replace household appliances including air conditioning units for more energy efficient ones.  So, not only will you save a lot of money on the purchase, but you will also save money on-going because your appliances will be more efficient.

So, instead of dreading the next set of bills to come in, why don’t you at least give yourself some peace of mind that you are taking the first steps to lower bills in the future? Subsidised solar energy and more efficient air conditioning is too good an offer not to take up!

So it is, that we welcome Juan Ignacio Hidalgo, who is a heating & cooling engineer of the highest calibre. Juan has twenty years experience including fifteen years as the chief engineer at the company, Aguatécnica, which has always had a great reputation for the quality of its work. Aguatécnica was the installation/maintenance company of choice for Daikin, undoubtedly the best air conditioning brand around. That is to say that Daikin specifically chose and endorsed Aguatécnica to be their engineers for the Malaga province, and they were tasked with some of the biggest and most complex engineering jobs around.

Juan is not only fully qualified and very experienced, but he also brings many other fantastic qualities, including a genuine work ethic, and a keen sense of responsibility and leadership. Ultimately, Oasis will be judged on the quality of its work, which is why we are very excited to have brought in such a great new addition to the Oasis team. We now have 4 full time engineers and all being well, we will continue to grow.

We install all types of heating systems for pools but a recurring question that’s been raised recently is whether they can get their pools heated from solar panels. The answer is that you can use solar as part of a heating system but unless you invest a lot of money in a lot of big panels, you cannot rely on solar only to heat your pool, especially in winter.

However, what solar heating can do (on its own) is extend your swimming season so you can start swimming earlier in the year and finish later in the year. What’s more, if you have a heat pump as well, then you could have a heated pool all year round and solar panels will help to substantially reduce your bills.

We also get asked a lot about the grants available for solar, and whilst we are one of only a few companies that can get the huge subsidies available from the government for solar heating, unfortunately it only applies to your homes, not your pools.

Of course there is no point in getting pool heating unless you get a pool cover as well (assuming it’s an outdoor pool) to help retain the heat, and there are many different types of pool cover but that’s a subject for another time.

After this awful winter, it’s just great that people are thinking about getting in their pools again….even if they do need their pools to be heated first!

The economic crisis has been tough for everyone. We all know the boom time is over for the time being. Making money for old rope isn’t easy any more, but the irony is that this is actually something to celebrate.  When money is that easy to come by, it brings in hoards of second rate (or third rate) tradesmen – otherwise known as “cowboys” – who undercut the real professionals that are trying to carve out a living through integrity and quality. Making money by providing a bad service is never a good thing.

What I was reminded of today when I met my builder friend, is that this crisis is filtering out all the rubbish, and we are left with the good people who have built their enterprises on integrity and professionalism.

We deal with a very broad range of clients throughout southern Andalucia, some of them foreign, but many of them Spanish. However,  I have actually met a number of potential English clients recently who told me that they wouldn’t normally hire English firms who work in our sector – heating, cooling, electrics, plumbing – because they had had such bad experiences with them in the past. Luckily, they were able to see that we weren’t cut from the same cloth, and we’re now happily working together. But the point is that the “cowboys” were not only taking business off us, but were also destroying the reputation of our sector all together.

The builder I met today was Albanian but I’ve met some good professional English ones recently too!

Energy efficicency is already a hot topic but I think the innovations in this area are only just beginning to take off. As such, one of the things that I shall be doing in this blog is drawing attention to ground breaking innovations in our space that might be relevant to you on a personal level, or if not, will hopefully be something of real interest.

Today, I want to draw your attention to a company and a solar innovation that’s going to change the lives of millions of people, specifically those living in rural developing countries. It’s an amazing invention from a company called VNL in India, and they are winning all sorts of accolades around the world. Time Magazine has profiled them under their feature on ‘Tech pioneers that will change your life’.

WorldGSM™ is the first solar powered mobile network designed from the ground up to serve rural populations in developing economies — and do it profitably. Basically, they have created a solar powered mobile phone base station that has no requirement for the electriciy grid. VNL’s base station needs less than 100 watts of power, costs $15,000 (vs. $100,000 for a conventional one) and is profitable at just $2 of revenue per user per month. Traditional GSM (global system for mobile communication) stations break even at $6.

What a fantastic innovation in the solar space!

Readmore: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1948486_1948485_1948477,00.html#ixzz0gSz7FGjY

In fact, the estimates in the article are very conservative. They talk about the cost of oil set to climb to a “sustained level over $100 dollars over the next five years”. Bearing in mind that oil has already peaked at $147 a barrel, the basic rules of supply and demand can only lead to one conclusion. Demand from highly populated countries like China and India are increasing all the time as they become more industrialised, and when it comes to supply, oil is running out. Combine that with increasing inflation, and I think the price of oil could sustain a level over $200 in the next five years, nearly three times what it is now. Not just our bills but everything from food to transport will go through the roof.

I believe we should all be doing whatever we can to invest now in ways to protect ourselves from these difficulties in the future. Energy efficiency and renewable energy are crucial for the future – that cannot be emphasised enough! As I write this, the rain continues to fall but luckily here in Andalucia, we know that we get more hours of sun than almost anywhere else in Europe so we are lucky that we can really take advantage of solar power. What’s more, the local government is even providing a huge amount of the investment up front in the form of grants and subsidies, both for domestic and commercial purposes. I think investing in solar power now is what they call a “no brainer”!

Here is the link to the article I’m referring to: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/oilprices/7203172/Britain-faces-oil-crunch-within-five-years-Richard-Branson-warns.html

That is to say that we – the royal we – are prepared to invest good money for them in the first place, and then we seem to think “that’s it!”…..we can just leave them alone and they’ll last for many years with no problems. Obviously, the better and more reliable the brand – like Mitsubishi Electric or Daikin – the less likely there will be any issues. However, they are NOT in the same category as other standard household appliances. In fact, they are much more like cars. To get the best out of them, they need regular servicing and looking after. Whilst that may require a small amount of investment along the way, the likelihood is that it will save you a lot of money in the long term.

The other day we got called out to repair a couple of air conditioning units in Marbella that had been installed by another company several years ago. It involved replacing a couple of parts and the lady in question was shocked at how much it all came to. When I asked how many times she had her system serviced since the installation, she looked at me blankly as if I was mad! Luckily, after explaining to her a bit more about how these things work and why we believe maintenance is a necessity not a luxury, she was actually quite grateful for the explanation. She had no idea about the need for maintenance….that wasn’t her fault…it’s probably the collective fault of those of us who work in the industry for not communicating this properly over the years.

The fact is that all heating/cooling systems do require maintenance. It might seem like a cost that you would like to avoid at the time but there is a strong chance that you will end up regretting not making that small investment along the way. Not only will you avoid expensive repairs and replacements, but your system will run more efficiently and therefore save you on monthly bills too. As I mentioned before, think of them more like cars. If you don’t look after them, they can become very expensive. For the cynics out there who might think we are promoting maintenance for our own benefit only, one must remember that we probably make more money on repairs!

We understand that saving costs is a big factor in everyone’s lives right now and it’s important for us to gain people’s trust in this regard.

That’s why there has never been a better time for people to be thinking about tapping into all that free energy given out by the sun, especially if you happen to live in Andalucia. The coast wasn’t named ‘Costa del Sol’ for nothing!  I am of course referring to solar technology and the potential that solar has to generate huge savings for domestic and commercial purposes. If there is one place in Europe where it’s almost criminal not to have solar installed, it has to be Andalucia.

One of the main objections in the past has been the cost of getting solar installed in the first place and the length of time it takes to recuperate that cost. Well, it seems there is a big lack of awareness that there are huge grants available from the government of Andalucia, specifically from La Agencia Andaluza de la Energia, with regards to solar installations. The great news is that you don’t have to do all the paperwork to get these grants because we do that for you!

To acquire these subsidies, the installation company needs to have all the correct paperwork and the necessary accreditation from the government of Andalucia to be able to do apply for these grants. Oasis Solutions is only one of a handful of companies that has the relevant authorisation.

So as we edge towards the end of January, dreading the next set of bills to come in, why don’t you at least give yourself some peace of mind that you are taking the first steps to lower bills in the future? Solar energy for all those living on the Costa del Sol or anywhere in the south of Spain has to make good sense, especially when so much of the initial investment is being subsidised.

One of January’s redeeming features is that it heralds a fresh start. We all like to start the year with fresh ideas, hopes and ambitions. And so it is with Oasis that we begin the year with a brand new website. However, the new website isn’t just a new ‘lick of paint’, but rather an effort to communicate properly the nature of our company and what we do.

Although Oasis started out as a specialist air-conditioning company ten years ago, specifically serving domestic and commercial clients near Malaga, we have since evolved into a bigger company with a greater geographical reach and a broader range of services. However, we haven’t been very good at communicating that properly but then again, it’s fair to say that we haven’t really needed to. All of our clients over the years have come from word of mouth – but there’s nothing like a recession to force you to get your house in order!

The reality is that over the years we have substantially expanded our services by bringing in new fully qualified engineers and technicians. We are now authorised by the Ministry of Industry to carry out installations, maintenance and repairs for a whole range of services including all types of heating and cooling requirements (including heavily subsidised solar installations, but more about that next time), electrics, plumbing, water treatment, and all services related to swimming pools. Not only that, but our Oasis branded vans can be seen darting about anywhere from Nerja to Sotogrande, and I’m not just referring to the Costa del Sol buy many places inland too.

So, if any of your fresh ideas for 2010 relate to any of the above, I hope we can be of service!