Local charges may induce people to change their pattern of consumption by influencing investments and acts in certain directions. Some charges could for example give people incentives to use less natural resources. This study investigates four different local charges and whether they benefit an economical management with natural resources or not. This is carried out by investigating whether there is a polarity between local charges that may influence environmental actions or goods, and effective pollution control set to achieve certain nationally determined environmental goals. The study includes two economic perspectives and investigates on the one hand whether local charges counteract governmental subsidies and on the other hand whether the charges vary between the different municipalities since large differences may lead to cost inefficiency.

Reducing the CO2-pollution, resulting from the combustion of fossil coal for energyproduction, is important to affect environmental changes. One way to achieve a reductionis to use the oxy-fuel technology. The technology uses O2 and re-circulated flue gasduring the combustion which results in a flue gas mainly consisting of CO2. The flue gascould then be compressed and stored without environmental effects. A problem thatfollows from the compression is the risk of acidification in sensitive parts of the process.Acidification can occur because of reactions following from the contact of condensedwater and sulphur- and nitrogen-oxides which are also present in the flue gas.This report compiles and evaluates the basis of a scientific unit with the purpose ofexploring the possibilities of extracting impurities of SOx and NOx from the flue gases.The dimensions of the unit are based on basic conditions, defined for an existing oxy-fuelprocess at Chalmers, and on the results of computer modelling.

Ammerån which is a small forest river in eastern Jämtland is a well-known river that has been a popular fishing river for a long time. The actual Ammerån begins downstream the lake Solbergsvattnet at Hammerdal and flows into the Indalsälven 10 km upstream Hammarstrand. The river environment switches between forests with wilderness feeling and open agricultural land. The entire Ammerån is today a nature reserve and protected from hydropower development. Fishing in Ammerån has mainly been focused on trout and grayling, and is so even today.

The purpose of the thesis was to map the hydraulic load on the Knivsta river from stormwater runoff, and build a platform for further studies of pollution loads on the rivers ecosystems. New residential areas are planned to be built in Knivsta municipality and it will have an impact on stormwater flows to Knivsta river. To examine the impact this will have, simulations were made in the area as it stands today and after expansion work. The work includes calculation of flows from the populated areas but also from the catchment area around it consisting of woodlands and fields. Because of expected climatic changes which may affect rainfall, the simulations have been performed with different return periods for rainfall data.

The effect of climate change places demands on how we build cities. Cities have to be built denser to meet the objectives of sustainability but as a result of this densification city green areas are at risk of exploitationand disappearing. The question this raises is whether there has to be an opposition between a dense and a green city?Urban trees are playing a very important role in cities. They stand as the major part of the vegetation in citieswhich are otherwise dominated with concrete and stone.

Sewage sludge contains plant nutrients and has earlier been utilised as fertilizer to cropland. Unfortunately not only plant nutrients but also heavy metals, pathogens and organic contaminants tend to accumulate in sludge. The suitability to use sewage sludge in agriculture has therefore been subject to several discussions over the years. The Swedish food industry does no longer accept sludge as fertiliser for Swedish producers. In 1999 the Swedish parliament accepted several objectives for environmental protection. In order to prevent environmental pollution and further exploitation of the earth crust, one of these objectives confirm that phosphorous from sewage shall be recirculated to arable land.

Consumers today seek added value to the ordinary products/services that companies are offering. Consumers must get their emotional need satisfied - a need for experiences worth remembering. At the same time, the consumers are engaged in ethics and morals. Companies use events frequently as a marketing approach to meet the customer?s demand of added value.

The Swedish forest have about 100 000 km of watercourses and it?s an important structure in Swedish landscapes and catchments. In some of the watercourses lives spieces like the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) which both are sensitive for inteference from the forestry. The new EU water framework directive has a goal that all surface water will have high or good ecological- and good chemical status at latest by the 22nd December of 2015. The study has been made in the catchment of Håltjärnsbäcken and it is from a national perspective one of the most valuable streams in Sweden and which also have been included in a LIFE-project. The catchment is situated within the Eco-park of Malingsbo-Kloten and managed by Sveaskog AB.

Ljusförorening är ett relativt modernt fenomen som allt mer påverkar tillgången till en stjärnklar natthimmel. Det finns en mängd olika internationella organisationer som arbetar för att minska ljusföroreningar och för att bevara natthimlens synlighet, bland andra International Dark-Sky Association, Royal Astronomical Society of Canada och Starlight Initiative. I den här uppsatsen undersöker jag ett antal strategiska dokument genom textanalys, för att analysera deras huvudsakliga motiv till förändringar och för att få en överblick över vilka sorters åtgärder som dessa organisationer föreslår. De analyserade dokumenten är Astrolabs Practical Guide for Lighting, Dark Sky Societys Guidelines for Good Exterior Lighting Plans, International Dark-Sky Associations Practical Guide, Royal Astronomical Society of Canadas Dark Sky Guidelines, Patersons Sark ? Dark Sky Island Lighting Management Plan, Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalitions Lighting Tips, Starlight Initiatives Defence of the Night Sky and the Right to Starlight och Narisda och Schreuders Light Pollution Handbook.

Soils in a metal contaminated site on Stångberget in Gusum in southeastSweden were investigated and compared to relatively unaffected soils a fewkilometres away. Pollution came from historical release of untreated flue gasesfrom a brass mill. The objective was to find information on how high the metalconcentrations are, if metals from the polluted soil affect the surroundings andif the metal contamination affects the microbial community. The soil wasinvestigated using several different methods, such as field XRF measurements,chemical analysis of metal, carbon and nitrogen content, pH, acid neutralizingcapacity, texture, soil depth, field leach tests, sequential extraction and microbialfunctional profiles. The study showed that copper and zinc concentrationswere above Swedish Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for lesssensitive land use on the entire investigated area.

Antibiotikaresistens hos bakterier har de senaste årtionden ökat drastiskt och är idag en av de största medicinska utmaningarna samhället står inför. Resistensutvecklingen har ökat i takt med den oförsiktiga användning av antibiotika som präglat både sjukvård och djuruppfödning i många år. Via akvatisk miljö har antibiotikaresistensgener stora möjligheter att spridas och är svårkontrollerbara. Den här litteratursammanställningen undersöker vilka ursprung antibiotikaresistensgener i akvatisk miljö kan ha och om det kan ske en horisontell genöverföring mellan bakterier. Vidare undersöks olika risker med antibiotikaresistensgener i akvatisk miljö, vilken möjlig roll de kan ha i resistensutvecklingen och hur de kan spridas tillbaka till människor och landlevande djur. Antibiotikaresistensgener i akvatisk miljö kommer ifrån utsläpp av resistenta bakterier från djuruppfödningar, akvakultur, sjukhus och bostäder.

I studien har jag ställt frågorna; vad är masskommunikation och hur kan den beskrivas? Vilken väg transporteras en händelse i massmedias infrastruktur? Ambitionen är att undersöka hur masskommunikationen fungerar, därför har tre specifika händelser valts ut för att studeras. Teoretiskt utgår studien ifrån ett mediefilosofiskt synsätt i en postmodern tradition med medieteori av McLuhan, Baudrillard och Bourdieu. Undersökningen har genomförts med kvalitativ fallstudie. Tre händelser har identifierats och kategoriserats i empirisk, definitiv och producerad händelse.

The purpose of this study is to facilitate sustainable building by the use of BIM. The goal is to determine which aspects of sustainable building, which can be analyzed mainly with BIM tools, but also other aids.The study is based on literature studies and interviews. The literature review examines aspects important for sustainable building by studying environmental certification systems applicable in Sweden, as well as the BIM tools available on the market to analyze these aspects. The literature also includes the concepts of BIM and sustainability in order to provide a clearer view of its meaning. The interviews have brought the study's overall understanding of the industry and guidance on the subject.The results are presented in a table, where the aspects relevant to sustainable building are listed.

The purpose of this study is to facilitate sustainable building by the use of BIM. The goal is to determine which aspects of sustainable building, which can be analyzed mainly with BIM tools, but also other aids.The study is based on literature studies and interviews. The literature review examines aspects important for sustainable building by studying environmental certification systems applicable in Sweden, as well as the BIM tools available on the market to analyze these aspects. The literature also includes the concepts of BIM and sustainability in order to provide a clearer view of its meaning. The interviews have brought the study's overall understanding of the industry and guidance on the subject.The results are presented in a table, where the aspects relevant to sustainable building are listed.

AbstractThis degree project is about having meetings in The Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which is awide organisation. This work will concentrate on one of the projects going on within theorganisation which is travel-free meetings, where they are building a video meeting system thatallows the employees in the organisation to be able to meet with each other through the use ofvideoconferencing instead of physical meetings.In this work we will show how Kaikaku (radical system changes) along with Kaizen (continuouschange) can support an organisation to become more efficient and reduce wastage. We have donethis work in an organisation that is present in over one hundred locations in Sweden.The Social Insurance Agency has over 13 000 employees at over one hundred locations inSweden.The organisation has to be close to their customers and provide the best service aspossible. To be able to work in a uniform way, the employees get together and have meetings.Some meetings are just progress meetings and takes perhaps no more than two hours to complete.However, if seven employees from seven different locations need to have meetings, in the worstcase, they all have to meet in a common place.This is expensive for the organisation in travel costs, time and absence from work, but thetravelling also contributes to environmental pollution if the employees are travelling by a fuelpoweredvehicle.A whole day could go lost for having a meeting in about two hours if all sevenemployees went from their own cities to e.g. Stockholm for the meeting.Muda (wastage) of travel created several different types of Muda, namely:? Wastage with anticipation when the employees had to wait for e.g.