For years the laundry of the Regional Hospital in Peja ran on heavy fuel oil (mazut). It was expensive, and it filled the neighbourhood with smoke. Residents complained many times, and the issue was covered in the national media. Water polluted by the fuel residue was even being used to irrigate local farmland.
Peja Rotarians met residents, patients, hospital staff and management to understand the problem. They then designed the project “Renewable Energy for a Cleaner Environment at Peja Hospital”: install photovoltaic panels that produce enough clean electricity for the laundry, and stop burning fuel oil altogether.
The project is backed by a global grant from The Rotary Foundation, with partner Rotary districts and clubs in California, Wales, England, France, Japan and Sweden. It was initiated, and is supervised, by club member Gentian Lluka. The agreement was signed by Neba Albani for the club and by the hospital’s Executive Director, Dr. Fazli Shala.
Who benefits: the hospital, its staff and patients, the families living around it, the farmers downstream, and the whole city of Peja.
