Storage of biomass is associated with problems like heat development, biomasslosses, and reduction of the fuel quality. Certain processes such as biological- andchemical degradation are responsible for these storage problems. This master?sthesis was carried out at Vattenfall Research and Development AB and is alignedtowards quantifying the biomass losses from short-term storage (1-2 months) ofbark and recovered wood. The biomass was stored in outdoor piles during differentseasons, campaign 1 (summer) and campaign 2 (autumn).

During the 1990?s a large number of building projects were revealed where lack of moistsafety precautions during the construction process had led to extensive moisture damage. Alsoresent implemented studies have shown that the problems with moisture damages have ratherincreased than decreased during the past few years. Moist is considered to be one of the mainfactors to cause unhealth due to deficiencies in the indoor-environment and does also causeunnecessary expenses and a reduction of the confidence in the construction industry.In this Bachelor of Science thesis three projects have been reviewed to examine how moistsafetyhas been observed during the construction process. Main focus has been to identify thebuilding components that are the most exposed to moist, and to examine how they have beentaken into account during the period of design and construction.

A study to optimize insulation thickness for stock-, industrial- and office-buildings for external walls and roof in an economical perspective has been conducted on behalf of DynaMate. DynaMate?s role is to maintain all Scania?s buildings. Analysis has also included other parts of the building envelope, such as windows, exterior doors and industrial doors. In this thesis, three different types of exterior wall constructions has been investigated, these are a sandwich design consisting of sheet metal and a another one consisting of concrete, as well as a wall of concrete with a coating of plasters.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the stir drying method, for drying of grain during Swedish conditions. The evaluation was done during the harvest year 2004, on four farms with stir driers. The driers were evaluated for their energy consumption, design, stirring effectiveness and how much time the farmer has to spend on every tonne of grain. A comparison was also done with conventional Swedish high temperature driers. Totaly six batches of grain from stir driers were examined, mostly winter wheat, but also barley and wheat.

Mothers and fathers in Sweden receive an earnings-related benefit of 80 percent of their income when they take parental leave. There exists a ceiling in the allowance though, meaning that some people with high earnings don?t receive fully 80 percent of their ordinary salary. The length of the parental leave varies between women and men and also among men and women. Various reasons are used to explain this; one of them is economical.

Stump wood was used between 1850 and 1950 for production of tar and as firewood. In the 1950s the use decreased because of the introduction of the cheap fossil oil. In the 1970s stump wood became an interesting issue again as a raw material for the pulp industry. Stump lifting has today become a possible source for bioenergy. The objectives with this study were to investigate the productivity of stump lifting and stump extraction, and to analyse the economy.

The purpose with this project is to explore and verify three renovating systems for Miljonprogrammet (common expression forbuildings constructed during the years 1965-1975 when over a million houses where built in Sweden) to take measure to thelargely transmission losses of these buildings. Many of the buildings from this period have similar constructions and thereforethe same techniques can be used to renovate several of them. This project only considers the climate scale, although thereare many more factors to concern for to efficient the buildings of Miljonprogrammet.This thesis presents examples of renovations carried out using two of the three renovation systems.The essay presents a reference house of choice on which we apply the three systems and calculate the new U-values,consumption of energy and the investment costs. The new U-values the building is given is matched to the values ofrecommendation for passive houses. Our reference house is a two story apartment building, located in the village ofLammhult, with brick facades at the ends and plaster at the long sides.

During the late 1800s fire suppression became increasingly effective in northern Sweden which led to decreased areas of fire-disturbed woodland and successive changes in the structure of forests. In the long run this can pose a serious threat to fire-dependent and fire-favored species. Today some fire-prone forest reserves are burned as a nature conservation act. Often partial cuttings are made before burning, with somewhat different motives. The purpose of the study in Långsidberget nature reserve was to give a general picture of forest history and its affect on today?s forest condition, and to show how partial cuttings affect burning conditions and results. Långsidberget is located close to areas that were colonized during the Middle Ages.

Digital depth-to-water maps can be produced from a digital elevation model (DEM). Then GIS- based algorithms are used to calculate water flows and the depth-to-water index classes dry, fresh, moist and wet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility to use depth- to-water maps for site adapted planting.The results showed that use of depth-to-water maps for site adapted planting, roughly halved the proportion of improperly planted surfaces from an average of 9 % to 4 %. The variation in the values of proper surface decreased and the result became more even.. In addition, more pine than spruce was incorrectly planted.

The number of people of getting allergic symptoms is increasing and the reasons are considered to be many. The human have changed their habits and spend more time indoor. In combination with new building technologies where denser housing constructions and new materials this causes bad indoor climate contributes to a higher occurrence of allergiesThere are several courses of action to deal with this problem. One action is by choosing allergy-free interior surface materials. An allergy-free material emits low concentrations of harmful substances resulting in a great indoor air quality.

It has now passed two years since the new site- and construction law, PBL, went into force. It replaced the previous PBL applicable since 1987, and it involves relatively large changes in many different areas of the construction sector. The ambitions of the new law are for instance to simplify and clarify the legal text, increase efficiency in the permitting processes and improve the quality of construction. To achieve this, a variety of changes was made. Some of the most important are: inserted deadline in the processing of building applications, extended assessment of building applications, revised rules about controlplan and quality manager, a certificate is required to start and end the project, an additional meeting is inserted and the construction management of the municipalities will have to do a mandatory visit at the work scene.

För att ha en chans att ändra trenden med ökande utsläpp av växthusgaser är internationella samarbeten nödvändiga. Därför har EU genom miljökvalitetsmålet Begränsad Miljöpåverkan satt krav på högsta tillåtna utsläpp av växthusgaser. Att sänka energianvändningen för upp- värmning är ett steg i att även sänka utsläpp av koldioxid, som är en av växthusgaserna. Sänkning av energianvändning kan göras på flera sätt, bl.a. genom att öka tjockleken på isoleringen eller återvinna värmen i frånluften. Men dessa åtgärder ska inte helt okritiskt göras.

This thesis deals with different methods for measuring moisture-related dimensional changes ofwood. Typically relative humidity is measured to determine if the ambient climate around anobject is harmful to it or not. Values between 40 to 65% RH are recommended for hygroscopicmaterials. To know how a wooden object actually reacts to changes in the surroundingenvironment requires methods that involve the object itself. Because of the wood anisotropy,differences in wood structure, finishes and other restraints, it is not always possible to predict themovements.This paper addresses various measurement methods, primarily methods that have been testedin the field of conservation, with examples of their use.

A patient simulator for testing anaesthesia machines has been developed at Maquet Critical Care AB, to reduce costly and time-consuming experiments on animals. The device simulates human lungs regarding lung dynamics and volume, uptake of anaesthetic agents and the production of carbon dioxide, heat and moisture. Further demands on the simulator are durability and size; the device shall be compact enough to be moveable.The resulting simulator fulfils the requirements and enables better repeatability and ability to test extreme cases than experiments on animals do.Uptake of the anaesthetic agent is achieved in a active carbon filter and controlled by regulating the flow. The flow is created by a regenerative blower and controlled using a proportional valve. The uptake can be set by the user or by a simple uptake model modified to recursively handle changes in the concentration of anaesthetic agent.Carbon dioxide is fed into the system from a tank by a mass flow regulator.

The design of the building envelope affects the energy consumption of a building. As the energy requirements for new buildings are becoming more demanding, the performance of the building envelope must be improved. Energy efficiency and durability are important attributes to consider.This report includes investigations of the building envelope, moisture and passive solar energy. It is based on the analysis of two different buildings with different designs. These buildings stand as reference for two of the companies who are working on a new, climate smart, residential area in Uppsala, Sweden.Studies and analyses on energy consumption and moisture transportation were made.