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Abstract Phenylketonuria (PKU, ORPHA716) is an inherited disorder that affects about one in every 10,000 children born in Europe. Early and continuous application of a modified diet is largely successful in preventing the devastating brain damage associated with untreated PKU. The management of PKU is inconsistent: there are few national guidelines, and these tend to be incomplete and implemented sporadically. In this article, the first-ever pan- European patient/carer perspective on optimal PKU care, the European Society for Phenylketonuria and Allied Disorders (E.S.PKU) proposes recommendations for a minimum standard of care for PKU, to underpin the development of new pan-European guideline for the management of PKU. New standards of best practice should guarantee equal access to screening, treatment and monitoring throughout Europe. Screening protocols and interpretation of screening results should be standardised. Experienced Centres of Expertise are required, in line with current European Union policy, to guarantee a defined standard of multidisciplinary treatment and care for all medical and social aspects of PKU. Women of childbearing age require especially intensive management, due to the risk of severe risks to the foetus conferred by uncontrolled PKU. All aspects of treatment should be reimbursed to ensure uniform access across Europe to guideline-driven, evidence-based care. The E.S.PKU urges PKU healthcare professionals caring for people with PKU to take the lead in developing evidence based guidelines on PKU, while continuing to play an active role in serving as the voice of patients and their families, whose lives are affected by the condition.

Cost of capital is an important driver of investment decisions, including the large investments needed to execute the low-carbon energy transition. Most models, however, abstract from country or technology differences in cost of capital and use uniform assumptions. These might lead to biased results regarding the transition of certain countries towards renewables in the power mix and potentially to a sub-optimal use of public resources. In this paper, we differentiate the cost of capital per country and technology for European Union (EU) countries to more accurately reflect real-world market conditions. Using empirical data from the EU, we find significant differences in the cost of capital across countries and energy technologies. Implementing these differentiated costs of capital in an energy model, we show large implications for the technology mix, deployment, carbon emissions and electricity system costs. Cost-reducing effects stemming from financing experience are observed in all EU countries and their impact is larger in the presence of high carbon prices. In sum, we contribute to the development of energy system models with a method to differentiate the cost of capital for incumbent fossil fuel technologies as well as novel renewable technologies. The increasingly accurate projections of such models can help policymakers engineer a more effective and efficient energy transition.

Cost of capital is an important driver of investment decisions, including the large investments needed to execute the low-carbon energy transition. Most models, however, abstract from country or technology differences in cost of capital and use uniform assumptions. These might lead to biased results regarding the transition of certain countries towards renewables in the power mix and potentially to a sub-optimal use of public resources. In this paper, we differentiate the cost of capital per country and technology for European Union (EU) countries to more accurately reflect real-world market conditions. Using empirical data from the EU, we find significant differences in the cost of capital across countries and energy technologies. Implementing these differentiated costs of capital in an energy model, we show large implications for the technology mix, deployment, carbon emissions and electricity system costs. Cost-reducing effects stemming from financing experience are observed in all EU countries and their impact is larger in the presence of high carbon prices. In sum, we contribute to the development of energy system models with a method to differentiate the cost of capital for incumbent fossil fuel technologies as well as novel renewable technologies. The increasingly accurate projections of such models can help policymakers engineer a more effective and efficient energy transition.

10.1186/1471-2458-11-S2-S4 ; BMC Public Health ; 11 ; SUPPL. 2 ; S4