By artificially keeping the electricity price low and not including the external costs in the production price, the myth that coal is the cheapest solution for energy generation is being maintained. Consequently, this excludes alternative energy sources as unaffordable. It is high time we start analyzing and calculating the total cost, and base our plans on this data.<\/p>\n\n
This is the key finding and recommendation of the research conducted by the Musine Kokalari Institute for Social Policies: \u201cIs Coal The Cheapest Solution?\u201d<\/p>\n\n
At the roundtable organized on Monday in Prishtina on the occasion of the report\u2019s publication, the Executive Director of the Musine Kokalari Institute for Social Policies, Visar Ymeri, stated that this research, among other things, highlights the problem of the current mistreatment by institutions regarding whether we can produce electricity without coal.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThe findings of the report also reveal the need for further, more comprehensive studies in order to calculate the real cost of coal-based energy. External costs must be included in every energy plan and strategy, consequently providing more information and developing a holistic approach to decision-making regarding energy system policies in Kosovo. Health professionals and institutions should be involved in the drafting process of the National Energy Strategy 2022-2031,\u201d says the research, which aims to calculate the external health costs resulting from coal-based electricity production in Kosovo in recent years.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThis publication offers a study of these externalities in Kosovo for the year 2019. Unfortunately, there are not enough reliable statistics on mortality, nor are there measurements for emissions,\u201d stated Marigon\u00eb Drevinja, Program Director at the Musine Kokalari Institute for Social Policies. She added that this issue needs to be addressed at a regional level, since pollution is transboundary.<\/p>\n\n
Meanwhile, Mikael Skou Andersen from the Department of Environmental Sciences at Aarhus University in Denmark presented statistical data on air pollution in Kosovo according to the impact-pathway approach methodology, based on the principles of the EVA (Economic Valuation of Air Pollution) integrated assessment model. \u201cCoal-fired plants contribute to air pollution, specifically to mortality and morbidity in people, as evidenced in Obiliq and Prishtina,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
For Luan Shllaku, Executive Director of the Kosovo Open Society Foundation (KFOS) for Kosovo, the arguments in favor of coal use overlook the issue of the population density affected by pollution and water scarcity. \u201cWhile the European Green Deal foresees a 55% reduction in coal use by 2030 and a complete phase-out by 2050, the state strategy of the Republic of Kosovo claims otherwise,\u201d emphasized Shllaku.<\/p>\n\n
Download the publication here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By artificially keeping the electricity price low and not including the external costs in the production price, the myth that coal is the cheapest solution for energy generation is being maintained. Consequently, this excludes alternative energy sources as unaffordable. It is high time we start analyzing and calculating the total cost, and base our plans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-ecology","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6945,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6944\/revisions\/6945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}