Driven by desperation: Yemenis use some dangerous electronic methods | Story

Taiz, Yemen It was around 5am in the Yemeni city of Taiz last week, and the morning peace was interrupted by the twittering of birds and construction workers going from home to work. Then, an explosion disturbed the calm and neighbors rushed to put out the huge fire in Najib Abdullah’s house.

Residents of the city’s Beer Basha area were rescued from the building, which was engulfed in flames, but was badly burnt.

They were taken to Al-Thawra General Hospital Authority, which has the largest emergency unit in the city for burns and plastic surgery.

The cause of the explosion was a lithium battery used for solar power, which many houses in Taiz depend on.

Dr Mohammed Saeed, head of the emergency department at Al-Thawra Hospital, told Al Jazeera that the mother and her two children have died, their father remains in the main hospital, while the third child has been discharged from the hospital.

He said the cause of the fire was not self-inflicted and his fire brigade regularly assists victims of exploding batteries, which leave those with severe damage or worse.

“We don’t know the exact causes of solar panel fires, but the center often receives patients from Taiz city and neighboring districts who are sick due to battery fires,” Saeed said.

In districts like Taiz, where there is no public electricity grid, residents are left with two options: pay for expensive generators or invest in solar panels that use solar power.

Installing solar panels requires special teams that work under strict conditions. Homeowners who often try to save money by installing systems themselves don’t know much about security.

In the first six months of this year, Al-Thawra Hospital for burns had 2,729 cases, including 13 deaths, according to Dr. Saeed. Many were caused by solar panel explosions, cars converted to cooking gas, domestic gas leaks and accidents involving gasoline.

The lower the price, the higher the risk

In a hospital room next to Najib Abdullah’s, 40-year-old Ammar Saleh lies in bed recovering from another fire. Like many others, he converted his car to run on cooking oil because of the high price of gasoline.

One liter of gasoline costs 1,500 Yemeni Riyals (about $0.95), compared to 500 Riyals ($0.30) per liter of cooking gas. The wide variation in prices has made drivers, especially bus operators, take the risk of converting their engines to use cooking gas.

While it has saved drivers a lot of money, it has also turned their cars into potential time bombs, causing cars to explode or explode.

Saleh, from Mawza’a district, has an old car that he uses to transport people between villages and around his district. Unable to buy expensive fuel, he followed the path of other drivers and started using cooking oil.

“Petrol is very expensive and many bus and truck owners have converted their vehicles to run on cooking oil,” Saleh’s brother Mohammed, who visited him at the hospital, told Al Jazeera. “I didn’t think it was that dangerous, I think it’s a matter of destiny and destiny.”

His car caught fire when a bystander turned on the ignition while filling his car’s tank with cooking gas. This happened last week, the fire burned my son’s body, but we managed to put it out, and rushed him to the nearest hospital, then he was transferred here to Al-Thawra hospital.

Fire incidents are increasing

Yemeni authorities have responded to the explosion of vehicle fires by organizing a public consultation to warn against illegal conversions. However, a thriving underground market still exists, with underground engine replacements.

Malik Al-Sabri, director of planning and information for the Taiz police, said that battery accidents are one of the main causes of house fires in Taiz district. Battery-related incidents account for 30-40 percent of all fires.

Switching vehicles from gasoline to cooking oil and refueling at gas stations that do not have such equipment is a big problem.

“The number of fire incidents has increased due to some of the dangers of increasing this energy, especially the misuse of solar energy systems and the uncontrolled conversion of vehicles to cooking gas,” said Al-Sabri.

“Due to the number of vehicle fires, the Civil Defense unit of the Taiz police has stopped people from turning around without permission. They are now enforcing strict security rules at every turn.”

Installation errors

Electrician Dawood Abdullah said that solar energy is often the best and safest option for Yemeni family generators, as it saves money for families and provides a long-term solution to the country’s electricity problems.

“We cannot say that solar energy alone is dangerous, but I can confirm that some families install systems by themselves without the help of an engineer, which causes many mistakes,” said Abdullah. “Not everyone can install a solar power system and not all places are suitable for battery storage. The use of professionals in the installation should be acceptable.”

Solar panels are not safe when families install the batteries inside their homes, he said. They should be away from dining rooms, placed in well ventilated areas and batteries should be real and built with high quality materials to reduce the risk of fire.

“Several mistakes committed by some Yemenis are the causes of battery fires and explosions,” Abdullah said. “We shouldn’t blame solar power itself, but the mistakes that users make.”

Ramez Nabil, director of press at the Yemeni Green Media Center (YGMC), an organization working on environmental issues in Yemen, agrees that solar energy is a cleaner, more sustainable option than private generators.

“We see solar energy as an emergency solution, and an environmental change,” said Nabil. “Solar systems are the best solution, not only for homes but also for specialized businesses such as supermarkets and small factories.”

But he said that there is a great need for public knowledge on the use of solar panels, saying that “clean energy” has become a source of danger in homes where users do not have training and guidance to use systems safely.

“The economic crisis has forced some people to buy unnecessary things and rely on unqualified people to install them,” added Nabil. “We urgently need an awareness campaign to encourage people to use this clean energy efficiently and effectively.”