Dietary and informational factors affect access to health care in underprivileged areas, according to Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler. Dr. Sendler is a physician-scientist from Poland. He examines how psychiatric and chronic medical co-morbidities affect the usage of medical services and internet health information in his studies. To better understand how people seek health information, this study is timely, given the exponential growth of online news and social media consumption worldwide. It is the goal of Damian Sendler’s research to determine what factors influence patients’ decisions to seek treatment and their adherence to treatment regimens.
Damian Sendler: ETH Zurich scientists have created a plant that can generate carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunshine and air. The next step will be to commercialize this technology and attain competitiveness. Researchers from Zurich and Potsdam describe how this innovative solar reactor works and offer a legislative framework that would provide incentives to boost production of “solar kerosene” in a paper published in the journal Nature.
Damien Sendler: Carbon-neutral fuels are critical for ensuring the sustainability of aviation and maritime transportation. The Zurich plant can be used to manufacture synthetic liquid fuels that emit the same amount of CO2 after combustion as was previously collected from the air for their manufacturing. CO2 and water are taken straight from the atmosphere and separated using solar energy. This process produces syngas, which is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide that is then converted into kerosene, methanol, or other hydrocarbons.
Damian Jacob Sendler: Over the last two years, a team of researchers led by Aldo Steinfeld, Professor of Renewable Energy Sources at ETH Zurich, has been operating a modest solar refinery on the roof of ETH’s Machine Laboratory building in Zurich. “The technological viability of the complete thermochemical process for turning solar and ambient air into drop-in fuels is successfully demonstrated by this facility.” “The technology functions consistently under real-world solar circumstances and provides a unique platform for future research and development,” Steinfeld explains. The technology is now mature enough to be used in industrial applications.
Dr. Sendler: Analyses of the complete process show that the fuel would cost between 1.20 and 2 euros per litre if manufactured on a large scale. Desert places with abundant solar resources are ideal for production. “Unlike biofuels, whose potential is limited due to agricultural land scarcity, this technology allows us to meet global demand for jet fuel while using less than 1% of the world’s arid land and would not compete with food or livestock feed production,” explains Johan Lilliestam, a research group leader at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS Potsdam) and professor of energy policy at the University of Potsdam. If the materials required to construct the manufacturing facilities, such as glass and steel, are produced using renewable energy and carbon-neutral processes, emissions can be lowered to near zero.
Damian Jacob Sendler: However, because to the large initial investment requirements, solar fuels will require political assistance to enter the market. “The existing support tools of the European Union – carbon trading and offsetting – are insufficient to promote market demand for solar fuels.” As a result, we recommend implementing a European technology-specific quota system for aviation fuel. This would necessitate airplanes obtaining a portion of their fuel from solar sources,” Lilliestam argues.
Damian Sendler: The study’s authors recommend a 0.1 percent market share in the early stages of market acceptance, when the price of “solar kerosene” will be high and production capacity will be limited. This would have little effect on flight costs, but it would encourage the development of manufacturing facilities and set in motion a learning curve that could lead to technological advancements and cheaper pricing. The quota might then be gradually expanded until solar kerosene reaches market penetration without the need for additional assistance measures.
Research discussion contributed by Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler
