US PLANE SCATTERS ENGINE DEBRIS OVER DENVER HOMES
ABoeing jet has scattered debris over a residential area near Denver after one of its engines failed on take-off. The Boeing 777, with 231 passengers and 10 crew on board, was able to return safely and land at Denver airport. No injuries were reported
Police in the town of Broomfield posted pictures of what appears to be the front of an engine casing in the front garden of a home.
Passengers onboard described a "large explosion" shortly after takeoff. Flight 328, a United Airlines plane bound for Honolulu, suffered a failure in its right-hand engine, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said.
One passenger who was on the flight told AP news agency that the pilot was giving an announcement when there was a loud explosion.
“The plane started shaking violently, and we lost altitude and we started going down,” David Delucia said.
He added that he and his wife placed their wallets in their pockets so that “in case we did go down, we could be ID’d”.
Images posted online showed smoke trailing from the engine. One video apparently shot from inside the plane shows an engine on fire and stripped of its casing.
The incident happened shortly after 13:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Saturday. - BBC
PRESIDENT Lungu has been known to make bold and sensible economic, social, and political decisions. This article urges the President and his administration to make one more bold decision to launch a transition campaign to shift the country from the old fuel economy (diesel and petrol) to the new economy powered by solar technology and other clean energy sources.
This transition campaign could begin at the micro level with kitting a solar panel to generate electricity, a battery to store the electric energy, and a two plate cook stove, and supplying these to Zambian homes at minimal cost. More solar panels may be made available to small businesses so they have enough solar-generated power to keep them off the Zesco grid. In this way Zesco power could be reserved for heavy industrial use.
These solar-battery-stove kits would actually reduce deforestation if distributed in areas of the country still dependent on charcoal for cooking and dry wood for lighting.
One of the by-products of this paradigm shift from old fuel will be the shift from old fuel engine vehicles to electric motor vehicles. Since the mid1970s the country has struggled with petroleum imports which, combined with low copper prices of the mid 70s, wiped out the foreign currency reserves the country inherited at independence.
Even though the cost of crude oil per barrel may be low, the cost of transportation by ocean tankers from oil wells in the middle east to Dar-es-Salaam and then by truck or through the 1,700 km TAZAMA pipeline to Zambia remain very high. In addition, operating and maintaining the refinery in Ndola is not cheap either. Further, after the refinery, the distribution of petrol and diesel across the country is a haphazard and costly operation. All these costs are reflected in the unusually high price per liter of both petrol and diesel. This cost argument forms part of the rationale for why the country should shift from old fuel vehicles to new electric motor vehicles.
The rest of the rationale for the economic paradigm shift to the new economy is based on problems on the supply side of electricity in the country. The country has suffered from poor hydro-power generation and distribution for many years now. This problem will be exacerbated by poor rainfall patterns due to climate change. These negative changes in rainfall will continue to lower the volume of water in rivers that feed hydro-power stations and will lead to low hydro-electric power generation and consequently a series of rolling black-outs in cities and towns across the country.
These will have a negative effect on economic growth at the individual, corporate, and national levels.
Given these challenges, and because the chassis of the Zambian economy is constructed of hydro power and fossil fuels like petrol, diesel, and kerosene, even small changes in the supply market of these factors have large negative economic and political multiplier effects on economics of individual Zambians as well as on the entire national economy. For example, a onehour power blackout, though seemingly short in duration,
may mean a thousand small businesses stopping work for one hour and losing productivity and the potential revenue, and yet be stuck with fixed costs such as lease and payroll costs for that hour.
It is thus a logical proposition that we begin an economic transition away from the old expensive economy of hydropower and fossil fuels to the new low-cost economy fueled by solar energy and others. The transition will solve the cost problem of old fuels and also solve the supply and consistency problem of hydro-electricity. Solving the first
problem will save the country oil import dollars that could be re-purposed for acquisition of critical medical supplies, investment into educational infrastructure, and other national priorities. Solving the supply and consistency problem will lead to improved productivity by individuals and businesses, and generally result in a higher gross domestic product (GDP) for the country.
The new economy will also create thousands of jobs for local Zambians. And the jobs will require special skillsets to support various technologies of the electric economy. For example, the former Mansa Batteries Factory could be repurposed to manufacture batteries and charging stations for cars and trucks. The Livingstone motor assembly could be revamped to assemble electric motors and vehicles for the domestic market. The Chipata bicycle assembly plant could innovate and assemble electric battery powered bicycles.
We don’t need foreign investors. Instead, local banks, can syndicate the financing of critical infrastructure for the new economy. For example, the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), working with this syndicate of banks and other financial institutions, and perhaps including ZESCO, may take the lead by investing in solar panel manufacturing. Similar partnerships could also set up solar panel farms across the country to generate electricity, and using the electricity so generated, to power a nationwide network of charging stations so electric vehicles can charge as they drive from one end of the country to the other.
These solar farms could also power homes and businesses in towns, cities, and villages across the country.
The concept of a solar panel manufacturing plant is not new to Zambia. It has been discussed before among private individuals, and was scheduled for Luapula Province a few years ago.
Across the developed countries the shift from old fuels to electric powered vehicles has been underway for sometime now. At this time all the major auto manufacturers have developed electric vehicles and many countries are passing or have already passed restrictions on old fuel vehicles. For example, the State of California in the United States has passed regulation banning the sale of vehicles with diesel or petrol engines beginning in 2035.
It is expected that as old fuel engines are phased out by developed countries, vehicles with those engines will be dumped in nations that will not be ready for the electric economy. As graveyard nations for old fuel vehicles these nations will have to deal with all the environmental challenges generated by an overabundance of these old fuel vehicles.
With all the challenges the country has had with availability and sufficiency of hydro-generated and fossil fuel energy sources, it is time to start laying out the infrastructure that will make it possible for the country to transition from the old economy of hydro power and fossil fuels to the new electric economy powered by solar and other energy sources.