Air Pollution from Power Plants

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and describe the issues caused by the large amounts of pollution that come from the power plants in Kosovo. The power plants in Kosovo are coal burning plants; they are old, outdated, and inefficient. There are two coal-fired power plants currently being used in Kosovo. Many serious problems are caused by the extremely high pollution levels that are dispersed by the power plants; these problems are very significant factors to policies and actions being discussed and made in attempts to address the air pollution and air quality of Kosovo. The coal-fired power plants have caused major problems in Kosovo; they are inefficiency that has led to significant debt, health risks causing many diseases and deaths, and political issues regarding European Union pollution regulations.

History

            In the year 1997, KEK was established in a “reorganization of the Institute of Nuclear Study for the University of Tokyo, National Laboratory for High Physics, and the Meson Science Laboratory of the University of Tokyo” (KEK). In addition, KEK stands for Kosovo Energy Corporation and is involved in spanning coal mining, generation, electricity distribution, and is the only supplier for electricity to the citizens of Kosovo. In 1999, it began operating Kosovo’s energy sector. Today, KEK operates “three open pit lignite mines” (KEK, 2012, par. 3), which are Mirash, Bardh, Sitricia, and is in the implementation stage of opening a new one called Sibovc South West. Further, it operates two power plants which are Kosova A and Kosova B. Kosova A filter comes from the former Soviet Union and came to Kosovo in the 1960s. Kosova B on the other hand, had come to Kosovo in the 1980s (Saliu, 2004, par.3). Moreover, the capacity for Plant A is 350/800 MW and for Plant B it is 530/687 MW. Lastly, the total amount of coal that KEK produces is about 7.8 million tons a year. As a result, this can cause major problems in the involvement of pollution that goes in the air in relation to Plant A and Plant B.

Problems with Power plants in Kosovo

Kosovo’s main problem with power plant pollution is due to the fact that the power plants are very old and inefficient. A simple everyday example of this problem relates to cars that need oil changes. You have a certain amount of months that you need to change your oil in your car, and if you don’t, your car can break down slowly until it doesn’t move anymore. Power plants, like a car, have a certain time limit of being used. Kosovo has had the same power plants for many years exceeding the amount of its use and now causes more pollution than necessary. In the article, “Energy Projects in Kosovo,” written by Nezir Sinani and Agron Demi many facts of the problems of power plants in Kosovo are listed. “Long-promised energy-efficiency measures have not been established. Because of this, demand for electricity in the country is artificially high, and the citizens of Kosovo continue to face energy blackouts on a regular basis,” (Sinani, Demi, Pg 8, 2011).  The energy demand in Kosovo is very high, but supply is very low due to the wasteful, outdated power plants.

Air pollution has a been an issue in Kosovo since 1954 with the first Thermal Power Plant of Kosovo began functioning in Obiliq, a small city nearly five kilometers north of the capital city, Prishtina. Obiliq is currently one of the most densely air polluted areas in the region, creating immense health risks due to the dated power plants. In fact, the two lignite-fired thermal power plants in which electricity is produced in Kosovo (Kosovo A and Kosovo B) are meant to generate the capacity of 1,513 MW, but due to the operating conditions not being up to standards, the actual capacity is at 841 MW (Syla, A., Veliu, A. & Berisha, K. BALWOIS 2008). According to the table below,“Most of the units of the two thermal plants are in poor operating conditions so that the present available capacity of the system is only 841 MW. Overhauling and rehabilitation works have been carried out or are underway on most of the units” (Syla, A., Veliu, A. & Berisha, K. BALWOIS 2008)).

Source: http://balwois.com/balwois/administration/full_paper/ffp-972.pdf

http://balwois.com/balwois/administration/full_paper/ffp-972.pdf
Due to the atrocious conditions of the aforementioned power plants, heavy metals and greenhouse gases are emitted into the breathing air, thus causing serious environmental concerns. This issue, which particularly relates to the construction of power plant Kosovo A, can only be resolved if an overall redesign of the boilers take place--however, that does not seem to be a priority. In fact, according to current EU regulations, Kosovo A will not comply even if such measures take place-“Units in Kosovo A are already at the end of their lifespan and further investment in these units may be questionable” (Syla, A., Veliu, A. & Berisha, K. BALWOIS 2008). Power plant Kosovo B, however, has a longer lifetime than that of Kosovo A. In order to reduce the fine dust particles that are emitted from said power plant, the rehabilitation of filters and the current electrostatic precipitators was proposed in the year 2008. Also, “harmonization with EU NOx emission standards is planned on [power plant Kosovo B]. The nitrogen oxides emission concentrations are in the range of 600-900 mg/Nm3” (Syla, A., Veliu, A. & Berisha, K. BALWOIS 2008). This states that it would be more beneficial to firstly reduce NOx emissions on Kosovo B2, with the same means being carries out to Kosovo B1 in the year 2016--no such investments are in plan for Kosovo A (Syla, A., Veliu, A. & Berisha, K. BALWOIS 2008).  

According to Arben Salihu, the air pollution that comes from the aforementioned power plants is directly related to the poor maintenance of the Kosovo A and Kosovo B--he claims that one of the main reasons pertains to malfunctioning filters. In fact, the filters that are currently used in power plant Kosovo A come from the former USSR and perform at only half of their meant capacity. Salihu also claims that it is due to the sheer laziness of the workers at KEK who remove the filters during the night shifts in order to avoid looking after the filter. This is a direct inconsideration to the health standards and regulations. When it comes to measuring the toxicity levels that are emitted in the air, KEK claims that they lack the proper tools to take part in health reports. As shown by Salihu, the carelessness and disregard of KEK workers to the health of the surrounding areas is also a cause in air pollution--rather than taking action and aiming toward preventative measures, the employees delay the process (Salihu, A., IFWPR, 2011).

After the war--the Breakup of Yugoslavia in 1999-energy supply became very scarce and many people suffered with having minimum power throughout the day. “These power outages, an everyday occurrence in Kosovo since 1999, are one of the main obstacles to the country’s economic development. Due to the lack of a reliable energy supply, many planned investments in Kosovo never materialize, and existing industry is at risk,” (Sinani, Demi, pg 8, 2011). It became normal to the Kosovo culture to have 2-4 hours of power a day. As a society, no one liked the idea of not having energy supply when needed, but everyone accepted it because they knew they couldn’t do anything to prevent this. The damages from the war were far more important and necessary than fixing or paying for the necessary tools for cleaner power plants in Kosovo. As Kosovo rebuilt itself, the power plant problem of releasing harmful toxins was pushed aside because of cost and people were/are unaware of the health risks it causes them. Below is a table from UNMIK’s official web page showing the power plants in Kosovo with dates of damage and out of service power plants.

Source: http://enrin.grida.no/htmls/kosovo/SoE/energy.htm

Kosovo A2 has been out of service since November 2002 and Kosovo B1 and B2 are both damaged from lightening strikes from the years 2002 and 2003. The two main power plants that provide energy for Kosovo are either out of service or damaged. After the attempt to repair the service of Power plants B1 and B2, Kosovo is still having big pollution problems from the power plants causing health risks to people and toxic drinking water. Unfortunately, Kosovo doesn’t have the money to invest in new power plants so trying to “fix” the damages is the best they can do.

Kosovo A power plant is the where the biggest pollution of power plants is coming from. Sinani writes, “[E]nvironmental damage is caused not only by the ash released into the atmosphere, but also by carbon dioxide emissions, the exploitation of coal, and the industrial use of water, a scarce resource in Kosovo,” (Sinani, Demi, pg 9, 2011). The damage of power plants is more harmful than many people may be aware of. The outdated power plants are not causing one or minor problems that can be fixed, but instead they are releasing a variety of toxins into the air risking people’s health that live close to these power plants. The power plants are located in Obiliq, only a few kilometers away from the capital of Kosovo: Prishtina. As Kosovo slowly starts to develop as a new country, more people are becoming residences of Prishtina. All these people breath in toxic wastes by power plants so close to the city without even knowing it.

Kosovo has a very high debt of unpaid energy. According to The Balkan Insight article, “[K]EK has a policy of cutting off homes with more than 150 euro debt,” (Balkan Insight, Xharra, 2011). Unfortunately, this is only implemented when asked by the government. There are few random checks where people’s power does in fact get cut off. However, there are many homes with thousands of dollars in debt refusing to pay, that still have energy in their homes. Besiana Xharra states, “[K]EK officials refused to answer questions on why it was ignoring its major debtors while targeting homeowners,” (Balkan Insight, Xharra, 2011). This is unfair to homeowners because they are being targeted with minimum debt, while there are residents in Kosovo with a lot more debt that should be targeted and focused on. To further emphasize this problem, Myzejene Selmani, (former head of parliamentary energy commissions) writes, “[K]EK targets only those who have no power, the citizens of Kosovo who owe only 100 euro, meanwhile KEK can’t cut [electricity] to those who have thousands of euros of debt. This way of managing must be stopped,” (Balkan Insight: Selmani, 2011). The corruption of politicians makes this possible so that they focus on the low debt payments instead of high debts to benefit themselves by taking the money for other purposes. They know very well that people with high debt will not pay because of the high amount of money being asked for, so they rely on the low debt payers who assure payment to insure their energy in their homes in not cut off. With that being said, KEK has a total debt of more than 350 Million Euros for unpaid energy supply. Slowly but surely, the large Debt is destroying KEK. This may never be paid. What does that say for the future of power plants in Kosovo?

UNMIK’s official webpage writes, “The power plants consume coal from 2 open pit mines next to the power plant. In 2002 a total amount of coal used is shown below along with the estimated of CO2 released,” (Provisional Institutions of Self-Government, 2011).

Source: http://enrin.grida.no/htmls/kosovo/SoE/energy.htm

The Co2 released is very high for such a small city and country. At en estimated of 4,505,535 tons with the combination of thermo power plants and private users, the Co2 released into the air is polluting Kosovo at a very high percent. Although this table is from 2002, the numbers have almost doubled since then. Over 4,000,000 tons of toxins are being released from the power plants, polluting Kosovo’s air every day, harming everyone. The power plants are very old causing more toxins being released into the air Kosovo breaths in and yet there are no funds or effort being put into helping solve this on-going problem.

Improvement of Kosovo’s energy line started to be implemented by government the in 2011. The Energy Projects in Kosovo article states, “[T]he Kosovo government has declared the 400 kV line Kosovo--Albania to be of general national interest 32  investments in this line were first made at the beginning of May 2011 and will total approximately 34 million euro. The construction of this line is expected to improve the energy supply in Kosovo, especially in wintertime, and will enable the exchange of energy between these two countries,” (Sinani, Demi, pg 20, 2011). Although Kosovo has a large amount of unpaid debt for KEK energy supply, the government is investing in a 34 million euro project to improve the energy line in Kosovo. This will prevent less pollution and cleaner air for Kosovo. With this new costly project and the ongoing debt of energy in Kosovo, people are still unaware of how this will all be paid off. All the citizens of Kosovo can do is sit and wait, with or without power.

Health Issues Due to Poor Air Quality

Kosovo’s aging power plants are not only an environmental catastrophe but also a threatening source to people’s lives as they are causing serious health issues, especially to those living in the municipality of Obiliq, which is the area where the two power plants are located.  According to an article, Kosovo’s Old Power Plants Sources of Cancer and Lung Disease, written by Arben Salihu, the health issues that arise due to the poor air quality from power plants are enormous.  Looking at the tall chimney, belching huge clouds of sinister looking yellow smoke, Muhamet Gerguri, 37, a village leader, says local families look on the chimney with deep foreboding. In Dardhishte, you consider yourself lucky if no one in your family has yet died, or is now dying of, cancer, he said. (Salihu, 2004)

A report by Kosovo’s Ministry of Environment in May 2003 said Kosova A emitted around 2.5 tons of dust per hour, which exceeds the European standard by some 74 times.  The same report concluded that in the Obiliq-Kastriot area, where the power plants are sited, air pollution is responsible for 63 percent of baby fatalities and 48 percent of stillborn babies. (Salihu, 2004) According to this report due to the poor filtration system of the power plants it results in untreated waste water from ash deposits, containing phenol, a highly toxic chemical, pours into the stream that runs through Dardhishte, which then floods houses during and after heavy rain. (Salihu, 2004) In addition, Salihu cites a scienticts at University of Prishtina, Ali Muriqi, who says that “the effects of these phenols is both short and long term, prompting both cancerous growths and psychic and physical disorders within newborn babies.”  Zeqir Veseli, an environment expert, for an article in the newspaper Jeta ne Kosove, said that the hazardous waste called Phenol is released at different intervals in the coal combustion process, thus becoming a cause for many diseases in this region. Phenol is found in soils throughout Kosovo, but larger quantities are believed to be found in the area around Kosovo power plants, because they are centered on coal burning and decomposition of organic waste. He says that “Mostly phenol issues KEK'u, where the coal is concentrated as phenol is a flowing fluid during the drying process of coal needed for power production (Jeta ne Kosove, 2011)

According to another environment expert, Blerim Vela, the level of pollution from the KEK plants had already reached dire proportions. The latest health control conducted by KEK’s Institute for Health and Safety at Work concluded that every employee working in the power plants suffered from some respiratory tract disease. (Salihu, 2004) A study by The Kosovar Stability Initiative (IKS) on their Thinking Green Project shows that there have been many warnings that the high contaminated air will have even more destructive consequences in the near future. One of those warnings according to IKS, were issued by the National Institute of Public Health in Kosvo (NIPH). This warning specifically stated that “dust from emissions of CO2, SO2, and NO2 contributes to higher risk of upper and lower respiratory tract diseases, including infections and allergies. Poor air quality is directly affecting life expectancy and the general health of the population. While everyone is affected, susceptibility varies according to health or age. NIPH noticed an increasing number of children with upper respiratory problems, such as asthma and allergies, as a direct result of polluted air. It further identified a 20 percent increase in the number of children with anemia in the last 10 years.” (The Kosovar Stability Initiative, 2009)

The concern of serious health issues due to the released emissions from power plants is also emphasized in another article, The Risk of Environmental Pollution in Kosovo, by Luljete Krasniqi. Krasniqi in this article stressed some of the major pollutants causing health risks and also the lack of initiative by Governments to improve the status quo due to the high expenses that it requires. Furthermore, Krasniqi in the article cites Daut Maloku, the president of the Green Party of Kosovo, who says that people are at risk from dust release stacks containing elements of hazardous chemicals, gases and other materials carried by wind and cause respiratory channels malignant and cardiovascular disease. (Krasniqi, 2011) Additionally, Jeton Musliu, the author of the article, Living in the Shadow of Death, for the newspaper Jeta ne Kosove, presents significant facts which further show the impact of the pollutants from power plants in the health of the population, specifically those living in the endangered areas in Obiliq.

In the article, Musliu interprets the data of the Directorate for Health and Social Welfare of the municipality of Obiliq which show that the whole municipality faces a high rate of disease. The number of those who seek medical help in the main Family Medicine Center in Obiliq, only for the first six months of 2011 exceeded the total number of inhabitants. (Musliu, 2011) According to the latest population census conducted this year, 2011, by the Statistical Office of Kosovo, ESK, this municipality has 21.548 inhabitants, and according to data from the Department of Health and Social Welfare Obilic municipality, only in the period from January to June of this year, in the hospital of this municipality have sought help approximately 27.509 people. (Musliu, 2011) Based on official reports, during the first six months 2011, 20 people were identified who suffered from respiratory problems, while 10 others were found to have malignant cancer. (Musliu, 2011) This data is also supported by a USAID report on Kosovo’s environmental threats where it is stated that the Obiliq municipality reported the highest incidence of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections: 449.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per week. (USAID, 2009)

Furthermore, a report by the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning shows that the current condition of air pollution in Kosovo remains one of the main environmental challenges.        The report states that the “air pollution data is scare; it is nonetheless a major concern. Respiratory diseases are a major indicator of these problems. The major source of air pollution is the coal power plant and pollution relating to traffic. Sulfur, Carbon and Nitrogen oxides, halogens and air born heavy metal are the major pollutants. Dust due to poor waste management and general upkeep dust in cities are also a cause of concern.” (Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, Comp.) Addressing the health issues remains a major topic of discussion and also a drive to work on further projects in order to take preventive measures as soon as possible to improve the current chaotic infrastructure of the major pollutants of air in Kosovo, the power plants. The picture below shows the enormous dust and pollution that is caused by the power plants, and also a villager who lives next to these dreadful air pollutants.

           According to the chart above, the best indicator for a country is child mortality. As shown, the children younger than one year old were most affected because of these two power plants. Then, adults from the ages from five to fifty had the most cause of these diseases compared to the elderly from the year of fifty and above. Since the children at most five years old had the highest number of cases for the infection, it can be explained that if these numbers continue to increase over the years, many children will end up dying or having severe physical pain which can lead to the death of young children. Furthermore, when young children end up in deaths, then there will not be a new generation which is a major issue if spoken about in depth. Moreover, there have not been any documentations before 1996 that had any information about the issue that is going on today about the power plants, but there are statistics that show Kosovo and Romania are the leading countries that have the most percentages of infections.

            According to statistics made from UNMIK, the infant mortality for different countries are as follows: “Bosnia – Herzegovina, 18.4%; the Russian Federation, 17.5%; Bulgaria, 16.3%; Hungary, 10.7%; Croatia, 9%; Greece, 8.2%; Czech Republic, 6.1%; Slovenia, 4.8.% Only Romania was worse than Kosovo, having an IM of 22.3.” (Molano,2002, par. 2).  These infectious diseases  for child mortality is leading to sixty- three percent of child deaths and forty-eight percent of premature deaths (Molano, 2002, par 2). The infectious disease are still high in Kosovo and will end up increasing because there is a discussion that is being made from the government of Kosovo which consults about the shutdown of Kosova A. Even though there is a high cost in the production of the new power plant, the government of Kosovo can see that Kosova A is the most damaging power plant for the pollution occurring which is causing high respiratory diseases and other health problems. In addition, the European Union has agreed to help with this issue, only if Kosovo’s government agrees to apply the standards needed. As a result of shutting down Kosova A which is forty years old that came from the Soviet Union, and making another power plant that is even bigger, may cause even more diseases and health problems than before.

Above all, a bigger power plant will mean that there will be more about of burning coal being used which will cause the red particles to be shown even more and the evacuation of people near the power plants will occur or deaths as an alternative. Even though the Kosovo government is stating that they are mostly providing a bigger and new power plant is because Kosova A is polluting the atmosphere and they want to decrease this issue, but really the old power plant does not provide enough energy for houses throughout Kosovo so they need a bigger and stronger one to do that and they will go all out if they have to in order to provide such a large power plant (SETimes, 2012, p. 1). Together with the high infectious diseases in Kosovo, there was a situation in 2000 to 2001 that showed there was not much change in the percentages of these diseases of either their increases or decreases. Moreover, the most frequent diseases in all cities of Kosovo were Upper and Lower Respiratory Tract Infections, Diarrhea, Intestinal Parasitic Infections, and Scabies. Similarly, the cases that were shown for these infectious diseases are Upper and Lower Respiratory Tract Infections: 674.9 cases/ 100,000), Diarrhea: 645.8/100,000), Intestinal Parasitic Infections: 104.2/ 100,000), and Scabies: 206.2/ 100,000) (Molano, 2002, par.2). In relation with these cases, the most area that was shown to have the most environmental problems was and is Obiliq. These cases also included the employees that work with the power plants which caused many problems the respiratory (Molano, 2002, par. 3). Furthermore, the chart below shows that different health impacts that were caused by the power plants, cases in a year, cases involving 10,000 cases, and that total amount of daily cases. The result shows 8,435- 9,019 which is the total for all of the health impacts and cases involved (World Bank, 2011).

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An article that was done in the year 2012 “Ndotje Kercenon bonoret e Obiliqit” written by Ariana Kasapolli- Selani talks about the issue of air pollution and the power plants in Obiliq. The director of the Family Medicine Center in Obiliq stated that there are fourteen new cases presented in 2012 from Obiliq. The involvement is the causes of cancer disease which is considered to be the highest causes in relation to high pollution of the environment. In addition, according to Shulemajes, the number of patients is very large in the Family Medicine Center compared to the inhabitants of Obiliq. Shulemaja in translation to the statement she made in Albanian says “in 2012 we observed an increase in the number of cancer patients, while fourteen of them have been diagnosed, the number of people affected by cancer in previous years has not been so high” (Salani, 2012, par. 4). As a result, the head of Obiliq, Mehmet Krasniqi had gotten really concerned with this issue and so he appealed to this situation, but there was a lack of response from the institutions mainly because of the low budget. Furthermore, the members of the Family Medicine Center are trying to persuade the prime minister for this issue, but it has not yet given positive news. Later on in the article, there was a discussion about a project being implemented to improve the environment by taking out eighteen thousand tons of hazardous material. This can be a benefit because then there will be a reduction of environmental pollutants. To conclude, there has been many debates that discuss the issues of the air pollution coming from the power plants in Kosovo, and a rebuild of a new power plant that need to follow certain European Union standards (Selani, 2012, par. 12).  

Striving to Meet European Union Environmental Standards & Regulations

In addition to having dangerous effects on public health, the air pollution from the coal-fired power plants in Kosovo also causes significant political and policy related problems. This is especially noticeable in regards to the various environmental protection standards and policies that have been set and regulated by the European Union. Although Kosovo is not a member of the EU, at this time, if they are ever to have any chance of becoming eligible for EU admission they must modify their environmental policies substantially. The EU has strict guidelines and limits that address environmental issues such as pollution. Air pollution and air quality are some important aspects of environmental policy that are closely monitored, regulated, and enforced by the EU. Kosovo will need to make, some drastic changes to its energy sector, and more specifically, some enhancements to the methods in which pollution emissions from the coal-fired power plants can be reduced. This will be a very necessary step for Kosovo to take, in order to have any hope of lowering its regional air pollution by an amount that is large enough to lead Kosovo to become anywhere near to complying with the EU limits on air pollution.

The leaders within the EU have agreed upon and set some specific goals regarding environmental regulations and energy production policies. It is required for all of the EU member countries to conform to these regulations by 2020. Because of the year 2020 deadline and the specifics of the regulatory goals, this policy has become known as the “20-20-20 targets” (European Union Office in Kosovo, 2012). The specific goals outlined by this target policy are: to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of all EU countries to a level that is at least 20% below the levels of 1990, to increase the proportion of EU energy consumption that is produced by renewable sources by at least 20%, and to reduce the amount of primary energy used by 20% (in comparison with future projected levels) by increasing the efficiency of energy production through various means. It is required that these targets must be met by all EU member countries but they also offer a desirable goal and set a positive example for outside countries that may be bidding for potential selection into the EU. These standards are appropriate and fairly attainable; they are a great starting point for all countries, both EU and outside the EU, to work towards building and implementing more environmentally friendly energy policies. Currently the EU is continuing in its work towards adopting more and more adequate and effective policies towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing efficiency of current power sources, and increasing the use of renewable energy sources (European Union Office in Kosovo, 2012).

Kosovo in particular, is a country that has a great need for some serious upgrades to its energy production sector. The purpose of these changes would be to make energy production more efficient and less pollutant. “Kosova is the only country in Europe that produces 98 percent of its electricity from lignite coal” (The Kosovar Stability Initiative, 2009). Relying upon this primitive form of energy production for such an exorbitant majority of the country’s total energy demand continues to have significant consequences. A study conducted by the National Institute of Public Health of Kosova, that measured the levels of some of the air pollutants present in Kosovo’s capital city of Pristina, illustrates how very high the levels of air pollution actually are. The National Institute of Public Health of Kosova reported that, “in the only two measuring points in Prishtina the level of airborne particulate matter and Nitrogen Oxide (NO2) in only three months of measurement have exceeded allowed emissions by 18 times” (The Kosovar Stability Initiative, 2009). The report went on to say however, that the researchers were not all that surprised by these off-the-chart measurements, due to the fact that “earlier measurements [back] in 2005 showed that the emission of flying ash crumbs from Power Plant Kosova B surpassed EU standards by four to five times" (The Kosovar Stability Initiative, 2009). This report also includes some specific information about the particular amounts of air pollution as emitted directly from the KEK power plants. It states that, "When the KEK plants produce at full capacity, the 200 MW units emit approximately 25 tons of dust and ash per hour, 74 times the excise allowed by European standards” (The Kosovar Stability Initiative, 2009). This quantified statement really puts into perspective how terrible the air quality here in Kosovo really is. When the EU decided upon the particular targets for air pollution in EU countries, they derived targets that are indeed attainable and realistic, based upon considerations of the EU member countries. However, comparing the EU allowable air pollution standards, to the actual amounts of air pollutants that are currently being spewed into Kosovo’s air, makes it difficult to ignore how serious of an environmental issue improving the air quality in Kosovo is.

Economic Problems Caused By Power Plants

Economics, and the economy of a country, is always a significant area of consideration for politicians and policy makers and actors following implementation. There are some simple and sensible actions that can be taken in order to plan ahead and become a more efficient governing body and overall country. These choices of action are based on the straightforward idea that it is more economical to address a potential problem by planning ahead for the possibility that it may occur, as opposed to waiting till a problem does occur and then attempting to address and fix it, doing so in a more damage-control approach. This can be related to the problems caused by the coal-fired power plants regarding both health and environmental problems and damages. In the case of the health problems that are caused by the excessive air pollution, employing methods that would help to make the air cleaner and improve its quality would be more cost-effective and efficient overall. This is because it is more economical to make the needed changes to the existing power plants and how they operate than it is to pay for the care of those people that are suffering from severe health problems and various illnesses. A second aspect of the problem that this idea of economic sensibility can be applied to is the fact that the intense amounts of air pollution are effecting the natural environments of Kosovo in some terribly negative ways. Instead of conducting damage-control procedures and actions in hopeful attempts to try to best fix the environments after they have already been significantly hurt and damaged, it would be much more economical and cost-efficient to, as in the proposal to improve air quality for concern of public health, take preventative actions to try to decrease the chances of the environmental damages. The following chart shows some estimates of the yearly costs that Kosovo pays for environmental damages (this specific data was collected and projected as of 2010).

In both the case of many health problems and the case of significant environmental damages, it would be more economical to try to prevent these problems from occurring, rather than trying to fix them as best as possible after they have already happened. It is also worth considering that if a policy is being designed in order to prevent a certain sort of disaster or problem from occurring, that policy can be well thought out and consist of actions that are as cost-efficient and as economically-effective as possible. However, if solutions are trying to be thought up after a certain disaster or problem has already happened, they are being derived in a much more desperate and frantic manner and environment; in many cases those who are involved will not necessarily be able to make the best and most economically-effective decisions. Therefore, it is better to plan ahead, modify current actions, and design solutions, as opposed to trying to clean up a mess or fix a problem after it has already happened.