Health care, low crime, climate, culture and cost of living. There are reasons that are often raised when people from different parts of the world choose to move to the Costa del Sol after retirement. Or take the community of Alcaucín as an example where one third of the municipality’s 2,300 residents over the age of 65 are retired British residents.

Now Forbes magazine has ranked a list of the best places in the world to retire after retirement. And you will find the best and most beautiful retirement life or the last lovely years, for example on the Costa del Sol, in Bilbao or on the Costa Azahar (Castellón) on the east coast of Spain.

Sunny Spain is still cheaper than much of Europe, especially if you settle a few miles from the coast or major cities. Healthcare is considered to be excellent. The crime rate is lower than elsewhere. And there are excellent opportunities for communication by air, train and roads, Forbes writes among other things.

Municipalities on the western Costa del Sol introduce certified ecological golf courses. With a control certificate, golfers should be able to clearly see that the golf course uses purified wastewater in a continuous and lasting manner.

It was presented in January 2020 at the Fitur tourist fair in Madrid. (Picture). Behind the certificate is the municipalities’ community and the public water company Acosol.

Both the Spanish and Andalusian Regional Golf Association are behind the effort to clearly raise awareness of the good use and sustainability of water resources.

The president of the municipal community, José Antonio Mena and Carlos Cañavate at Acosol say they want to highlight golf courses that use purified wastewater during irrigation.

“This is a very important event that emphasizes sustainability, environment and tourism on the Costa del Sol”.

Purified wastewater currently has no less than 40 golf courses on the Costa del Sol. The water reservoirs are at record low levels and there is a shortage of water. An investment of nine million euros to increase the production rate at the EDAR treatment plant in La Víbora, Marbella, means that the plant now produces 14,000 cubic meters of water a day. Water used to water the coastal golf courses.

Diario SUR talks about the clear improvements that have been made recently to reuse purified wastewater and distribute it in the water mains network to reach 40 golf courses on the coast.

It is the companies Acosol and Acuamed that are responsible for the water network and distribution. EUR 9,159,699 has been invested to increase production at the EDAR plant (Estación Depuradora de Aguas Residuales) in La Víbora near Marbella. 14,000 cubic meters a day, the plant manages to distribute.

In total there are 40 golf courses connected online. There are courses located in the area between Torremolinos and Manilva on the western Costa del Sol. Municipal parks and gardens in Marbella will also be connected to the water supply network.

The project has been developed in two phases since 2015. A new pumping station has been installed that will cope with 20,000 cubic meters of water a day, which means that production could increase further.

Our goal is to focus on sustainability in the tourism industry, which is a priority, says Carlos Cañavate, CEO of Acosol.

Málaga’s Los Arcos wind farm with a total of ten state of the art wind turbines located on the border between the villages of Almargen, Teba and Campillos will have a production capacity corresponding to electricity consumption in 30,000 households over a year. It shows figures from EGPE (Enel Green Power España), which is Endesa’s renewable energy branch.

In total, this is an investment of EUR 35.5 million made at the Los Arcos wind farm. It will prevent an annual emission of about 66,500 tons of CO2.

The Spanish government made a decision in 2017 on an investment of EUR 800 million in renewable energy sources. At present, Andalusia has twelve wind farms: five in the province of Cádiz (four in Tarifa and one in Vejer), five in Malaga (two in Campillos, one between Campillos and Teba, one in the Almar and another in the Sierra de Yeguas), one in Almería (Enix) and one in Granada (Padul). In connection with the construction of the wind farms, Endesa has prioritized local labor.

Spanish state railway company Renfe has launched a campaign to promote its new low-cost high-speed train “AVLO”.

The campaign started on 2020-01-27 and continues for 10 days. They offer 10,000 tickets on the Madrid – Barcelona line, 1,000 tickets per day for 5 euros per ticket.

During the premiere yesterday, the website where tickets are sold over 1.5 million visits and yesterday’s ticket allocation sold out in one hour. Anyone wishing to purchase one of the tickets for travel between April 6 and August 31 may be quick when tickets are released. Tonight new tickets will be released at 20:00 and tomorrow Wednesday more new tickets will be released at 13:10 on www.avlorenfe.com.

When the promotional offer is over, AVLO prices on the Madrid – Barcelona line will cost between € 10 and € 60 per trip (depending on departure and demand) except for children under 14 in the company of an adult they will always pay € 5.

AVLO, is a low-cost train but runs at the same speed as the traditional AVE trains (currently 300 km / h, but they are approved for 350 km / h) and the travel times will be the same. What is different is that it is narrower in the trains as they have 20% more seats, no cafeteria trolleys, only offer economy class seats and limit luggage to one cabin bag and one handbag per passenger. If you want more luggage you can pay extra for it just like on the flight.

The Madrid-Zaragoza-Barcelona line is the first line that gets the new AVLO trains will have three departures in each direction per day. From Madrid 9:15, 16:00 and 20:35. From Barcelona 9:25, 16,25 and 20:00. Today’s first and last train will stop in Zaragoza. The direct route takes 2 hours and 30 minutes, while those staying in Zaragoza will take 15 minutes longer. In September, daily departures are increased to five in each direction.

The AVLO train network will be gradually expanded to the whole of Spain.

Alberto Garzón, Spain’s new Minister of Consumer Affairs, expressed in early 2020 a desire to make unhealthy food more expensive by raising the VAT on these foods.

The purpose of this is to reduce obesity in Spain, which is already seen as an epidemic as about 25 percent of the population is overweight.

However, the food industry has been quick to provide the consumer minister’s strategic plan with answers. Mauricio Garcia, director of the trade association FIAB (Federación de Industrias de la Alimentos y Bebidas) poses negatives to parts of what the government wants to introduce. He told the Spanish newspaper Las Provincias that there has never been a greater supply of different foods than it does now. “Never before has there been such a safe and varied food supply that is tailored to the taste, needs and purchasing capacity of consumers,” he said.

Garcia explained that there is no scientific evidence that such measures are effective and that he would rather see a collaboration with the new government to disseminate information to consumers.

Another important factor in the government’s plan is to categorize the foodstuffs into five levels, which would be done by using labels in five different colors.