'Space-Age Windmills' generate green energy for the Dutch grid

Windmills off the Netherlands Coast
The traditional polders in The Netherlands were formed from the 12th century onwards.
The enterprising people of the area pushed back the hungry sea to reclaim land that has been farmed for centuries.
Farmers adapted their agricultural system to lowering soil levels and occasional floods. 
They invented new ways of keeping sea and river water out - resulting in the building of hundreds of drainage windmills and later pumping stations to pump water from polders into the rivers and the sea.
Now the people from The Netherlands continue in the vanguard of alternative energy to fossil fuels.

'Space-age windmills'
The future is here as 'space-age windmills' form wind parks off the Netherlands coast.
At 15h00 on 22 May 2015, the 240-hour test phase of the first of 43 wind turbines at offshore wind park Eneco Luchterduinen was successfully completed at Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
The windpark is now generating green energy for the Dutch grid.

Every turbine consist of five sections; 

• a tower with a 4.5 m diameter
• gondola weighing 165 tonnes
• three rotor blades with a 112 m diameter

The electricity comes ashore near Noordwijk by means of a 25 km cable buried in the sea bed.

It continues underground for a further 8km to the Tennet high-tension power station in Sassenheim. 

It is hoped the wind park will be fully operational in August 2015.

Offshore wind turbines; a wonderful resource of alternative energy to fossil fuels.

Tuhin Bagi

http://www.vanoord.com/news/2015-new-dutch-wind-park-generates-first-energy 

With thanks to Vanoord.com

Image of Dutch windmill

Pandavleni Caves Numbers 3, 10 and 23; Nashik

Pandavleni Caves Numbers 3, 10 and 23; Nashik

The beautiful Cave 10 of the Pandavleni Caves, Nashik, is the gift of Saka Ushabhadata and his wife Dakshamitra, daughter of King Nahapana of the Kshaharata family.

Many inscriptions of this illustrious family remain on the verandah walls and the court's left wall.

Monk's cloth

The donations included thoughtful and kindly provisions for monk's cloth.

A female lay devotee of the Saka lineage during the reign of Abhira King Isvarasena provided perpetual endowment to provide medicine for the sick monks; a holy endowment to assist men of prayer and holiness.

Pillared verandah with intricate pillars

Cave 10 consists of a pillared verandah, with a monk's cell on either side.

There are 16 further cells (monastic bedrooms) with rock-beds on three sides of a spacious hall.

The pillars of the verandah are lavishly decorated, and are considered the best specimen of the age.

The capitals of the intricate pillars consist of two pairs of addorsed animals; bull, lion, sphinx, raw and composite figures.

Cave decorations and village donation

The donation for Cave 3 included a village to pay for the cost of decorating the cave with paintings.

The caves' pillars support an ornamental parapet imitating a balcony with intricate details of wooden rafters and tie-beams.

The main hall is entered by means of a door with a frame decorated in the form of atorana.

The shaft is in shakas with figures of ganas and nayikas.

Two duarepales guard the entrance.

Gem of India

The amazing Cave 23 contains a number of reliefs of Buddha, Bodhisattvas and female deities.

These archeological treasures show that Nashik is truly an architectural, historical and spiritual gem of India.

Tuhin Bagi

Image of Pandavleni Caves

Fascinating Nashik

Fascinating Nashik

Ancient Indian literature of the pre-Christian era mention Nashik.

This bustling and fascinating city was a major city during ancient times.

Nashik (known then as Nasika) is located on the ancient trade route connecting the ports of western India, and north and southern Indian cities.

Excavations of the site of Pandavleni's caves show continuous habitation from around 5th century BC.

Northern Black Polished Ware is present (NBPW usually starts around 6th century BC and flourishes during the Mauryan period).

This polished ware indicates close contacts with the northern Indian cities.

Ruling dynasty

Pandavleni caves received patronage from a large number of Kings of the Satavahanas.

These Kings came from a ruling dynasty placed between the third century BC to 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

Their capital was Pratishthana.

Kings were mentioned; Krishna (c205 - 187 BC); 

Gautami Putra Satakarni (c 106 - 130 AD); 

Vasisthiputra Pulumaui (c 130 - 158 AD); 

Sri Yajna Satakarni (c 171 - 201 AD) of the Satavhana dynasty and Nahapana (c 119 - 125 AD).

Nashik thus has an ancient and interesting history.

Tuhin Bagi

Image re Satavahanas ruling dynasty

Pandavleni caves in Nashik

Pandavleni Caves in Nashik

If you come to visit our beautiful India, do consider visiting the famous Pandavleni caves.

Many mountaineers, tourists, archeologists, artists and trekkers find their way to this historic site.

Since 1996, more than 4000 trees of different varieties have been planted on the hillock; making this a lightly forested area.

Buddhist caves

The Pandavleni caves belong to the 1st century BC to 4th century AD period.

They are a group of 24 Buddhist caves, which contain large rare inscriptions of great historical interest.

Buddhists of the Hinayaha Faith excavated the caves.

A number of the caves are Viharas or monasteries.

These were excavated following orders from the Mother of the famous Satvahana King Gautamiputra Satkarni.

Rare inscriptions

Various inscriptions make for fascinating reading.

The inscription in cave number 10 speaks of the donations made by Ushadatta, the son-in-law of Kshatrapa Nahapana 

(c 120 AD).

Cave number 17 contains an inscription stating that a "Yavana" (the Greek) named Indragnidatta and his son Dharmarakshit excavated the vihara with a shrine and cisterns.

Cave number 18 - the oldest - is the chaitya: the hall of congregation.

The inscription engraved on the 5th and 6th pillars show that the hall was excavated by Bhattapalika, wife of the Royal officer Aghetyana and daughter of the Royal Officer Arahataya.

Gift of village

An inscription under the entrance's horseshoe arch records the gift of a village by Nashik's inhabitants for the upkeep of the chaitya.

Cave number 20, begun by an Ascetic named Bhopaki, was completed by Vasu, the wife of Mahasenapati Bhavogopa in the 7th year of the Satvahan King Gautamiputra Yajnashri Satkarni (c 166-198 AD).

Nashik heritage

So the Pandavleni caves are of great historical, archeological and spiritual significance. 

They form a valuable part of the heritage of Nashik.

Tuhin Bagi

Image of Pandavleni Caves

Plug-In Hybrid Cars

Plug-In Hybrid Cars

  Plug-In Hybrid Cars offer drivers the fuel-efficiency benefits of hybrid cars with the added feature of being able to literally plug in to household electricity when the car is not being used!

  This can save the thrifty householder, as well as facilitating increased fuel mileage.

  Hybrid-electric cars with plug-in facility offer extended electric-only propulsion. 

  If you wish, you can use the electric mode for short trips only. 

Then you can easily switch to the so-called 'blended' mode, in which you use a combination of gas and electric. 

  This is handy when your battery runs low, or if you require a higher engine performance.

  Plug-ins need large batteries; larger in fact than normal hybrids. This means they will be more expensive. 

  Hybrid vehicles make use of rechargeable nickel metal hydride (NiMh). 

  They are bulky, but not as expensive.

Advanced lithium ion batteries are smaller and have a higher output of energy. They are really expensive, though. 

  So it appears that the key to the success of the plug-ins lies in improvements to battery storage.

  Plug-in technology is being explored by major auto manufacturers.

Tuhin Bagi

Image of Toyota Prius Plug-In

Ethanol - The fuel of the future

Scania's recently launched city bus running on ethanol. 

It has not been long since Scania entered into the Indian market and it has already started creating a hype. Smart looks, good amount of safety features, loads of technology and value for money products, that is what has made Indian buyers and the Indian Government interested in Scania's. With its intercity buses already in action on Indian roads and orders for over 200 buses already been placed, it was not long before Scania ventured into the city bus market.

Scania recently launched India's first bus running on 95% ethanol. A major advantage on ethanol is that it is a liquid and is available in commercial volumes globally. It is produced from variety of raw materials such as sugar cane, beets or cellulose, and it is used both as a pure fuel and in low blends. Ethanol can reduce the emissions by as much as 75% .

Last year, Volvo too had showcased its Hybrid- Diesel Electric city bus, but the previous Indian government wasn't interested in testing buses running on alternative fuels. The present government, giving more priority to alternative fuels, has already started pilot runs of Scania's green bus in Nagpur. If these runs are successful, city buses running on ethanol will soon be started all over India, helping in reducing the pollution.

Volvo I-Shift

Volvo's I-Shift gearbox

Volvo has introduced a wonderful new transmission for its range of buses and trucks. Currently, the I shift transmission is optional for the 9400 XL range but is standard on the 9400 PX range. The cost of this new transmission is a bit more as compared to the normal 6 speed transmission, but it is very fuel efficient and the maintenance costs are also less.

Having the right ratio for the right speed at the right time is what the I-Shift transmission is all about. It is a 12-speed manual gearbox with an automated gear changing. By continuously monitoring the road gradient, vehicle speed, acceleration, torque demanded by the particular road, weight, rolling and air resistance, the I-Shift can instantly predict and select the most appropriate ratio for efficient utilization of the engine. In short, it knows when and where a shift would be beneficial.

The gear stick

Volvo I-Shift is available with a choice of several different gear-shifting programs, including a function that allows a choice  between fully-automatic gear changes and manual gear selection featuring a performance program with kickdown function that utilizes the engine's capacity to the maximum. No clutch pedal is needed as the gear changing software senses the need for gear change in order to remain optimum performance.

The gearbox is compact and lightweight. Long oil-change intervals mean low operating costs and less environmental imprint impact. If special oil is used, oil and filter changes can take place as far apart as once every 400,000 km or every three years.