Written in 2010 September
Hello everyone…
I finally made it to the SIKA experience on
Thursday missing 4 days of some wonderful moments. But my first two days at
sika solar experience have left me amazed and speechless. It is quite
astonishing to see how a small country(in terms of area and population) has
carefully preserved it`s natural beauty(truly blessed by god himself ) by
making technological advances at the same time. What makes me more amazed is
how they, as people and Sika as company are aware and willing to act and preserve
nature for coming generations.
When I landed at the airport a simple gaze
of surroundings gave me an idea of how amazing this is all gonna be. I joined
in the team 4 days later than scheduled date. But it took me only an hour to
mix up well with the guys. I am really
enjoying the company of these guys and hope to have a great time with them.
On Thursday afternoon we took a train to
Zermatt which is a small village but a huge tourist destination in Europe. It is surrounded by snow capped and rocky mountains.
A river flows through from the center of the village emerging out of glaciers.
We walked down to our hotel and I must say it was served as a great starter to
this whole affair.
A
Walk to remember. Indeed!
We kept our luggage in hotel and started for
Sunnegga paradise. It is built on a mountain and reaching to this place is an
amazing experience in itself. We took a special train that has been built by
digging tunnels in mountain. The inclination of the tunnel is quite high.
Man!
Technology has changed the world
We reached to the top of the mountain in
about 15-20 minutes. On one side we could see the snow capped peak and on the
other side stood the rocky mountain. At far off distances we could see some
traditional houses. We had coffee on the top and then started to climb down
through small muddy road that is used by villagers and cyclers. I guess they
are soon going to have some big competition here in Zermatt and thus we could
see a lot of them practicing.
Anyways, we were shown traditional swiss
village houses and I must say we all were really impressed. Those were
beautifull wooden houses in between the green fields, the one I had only seen
in movies till the day. But yes, I was there right next to them. It took us
more than an hour to reach village at the bottom of the mountain.
Good
job, God!
The first day was very tiring for me
because I did not get the time to rest after my flight but the place gave me
enough adrenaline rush to survive….
Next day, i.e. on Friday we met Ryan who
was supposed to take us to Matterhorn glacier paradise, a tourist destination
located at the height of 3883 m above the sea level. The only way (if you are
not an experienced mountaineer) is the cable ways. This company has taken every
care to develop this area for passionate ski lovers and mountaineers without
disturbing the environment much. There are 34 cable ways and lifts and can
carry about 90,000 passengers per hour. Out of 290 million Franks invested last
year, above 1 million was invested in preserving environment (planting trees, flowers,
making eco-friendly buildings). The temperature at the top varies from -30OC
to 10OC.
Yes! It is harsh up there.
Solar panels (now we are talking business) are used to meet energy requirements
of the hotel, and if they sometime fall short of energy than they buy it from
electric company and sell it when they produce excess. There is one good
water treatment plant installed at this place to minimize the harms caused to
environment. Treated water is either re-used or used for snow cannons. Half of
the hotel is built inside the mountain. The walls have skin of metal and glass.
The heat capacity demand is around 32 W/m2. Interestingly, the solar
panels here are 80% more efficient than those in Zurich and Bern. The panels
are installed at an angle of 70O which is quite interesting because
during rough times the wind velocity is about 300 Km/hr and they cn still
withstand such turbulent winds. The construction was completed in record time
because of bad weather most of the times. The raw materials were transported
either using cable ways or helicopters. Some specifications of the walls of the
building are:
Double cladding isolation- 40 cm
Wall width 48 cm
Façade width 75 cm
These guys have installed a very good water
purification system. Water with oil is treated by bio membrane purification.
Well
done Matterhorn Paradise.
We left for Zurich on the same day. Me,
Jose and Rafia got down at Bern, the capital of Zurich, to have a look around
and I must say it was great.
Well I guess I have written too much about
my experiences but I still want to say that this is just a glimpse of what I
have experienced.
Thank you Rafia, Jose, Heinz, Simon, Joseph
and Ryan for amazing time, really looking forward to have many more great
moments with you
