Sedan industrialismens start har människan påverkat klimatbalansen genom förbränning av fossila bränslen. Rökgasemissionerna förorsakade av internationell sjöfart kan inte tillskrivas någon särskild nations ansvar på grund av dess globala och komplicerade verksamhet. FN:s sjöfartsorgan IMO har således åtagit sig ansvaret att minska sjöfartens miljöpåverkan. Införandet av nya miljömål har resulterat i strängare globala och nationella regler som tvingar sjöfartsnäringen till omfattande anpassningar under kort tid. Som lösning för att uppfylla kommande krav gällande rökgasemissioner har flertalet alternativa bränslen diskuterats.

Fire is an important ecological factor, but its consumption of coarse woody debris, CWD, has hardly received any attention. In this study, I investigate the consumption in relation to the time of initial flame exposure and propensity for continued combustion of standing CWD of pine (Pinus sylvestris). Two types of CWD were studied. Firstly, wood that had been dead for one to ten years. Secondly, wood that had been dead for several decades. In the burning experiments, logs of approx.

In this report an MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particle) model is described for the reactor vessel at Ringhals 2. The model is validated against the specific activity in neutron dosimeters, extracted in 1977, 1984 and 1994. The validation showed that the calculations of the model are within the requirements of a maximum of 20 percent uncertainty for every neutron dosimeter except one, extracted after the first cycle. The uncertainty of this cycle was mostly due to the operation data rather than to the MCNP model.The model has been used to investigate various questions concerning radiation damage. The reliability of the traditional measure of radiation damage, fast neutron flux (En > 1MeV) has been evaluated.  This has been done by taking the ratio for this and another measure of radiation damage, DPA (Displacement Per Atom), for various positions and layers.

The Swedish production of biogas was 1,5 TWh 2011. About half of the production was used as vehicle fuels. The cost for upgrading biogas depends on the size of the biogas plant and its gas production. If the gas flow is low the cost will be high. However, further development of existing upgrading technologies or development of new ones, have good potential to decrease the upgrading cost for small scale biogas plants.

Interest in alternative energies is high in Sweden today, particularly in the agricultural sector. According to the Swedish lantbruksbarometern (2009), almost all respondents consider the use of some form of alternative energy from the farm. While interest in alternative energies is large, attention to the alternative energy straw has fallen and is almost nowhere mentioned in the literature today. Three years ago, in the Lantbruksbarometern nearly 44% of the farmers would be willing to invest in straw as heating system on the farm. How do the farmers decide to invest in alternative energies? With this information a problem is presented for this paper.

In Sweden, the demand for bio energy has increased in recent years due to the current energy and climate debate. In 2008, the energy supply of Sweden was 612 TWh, biofuels accounted for 123 TWh of these. Stumps have been highlighted as a potential fuel in recent years and the Swedish Forest Agency expects a technically and biologically feasible potential of 20.7 TWh annually between 2010 and 2019. The idea of utilize stumps is not new. During the 19th century stumps were used for tar production and during the 70?s and 80?s attempts were made to use stumps in the pulp industry.

Around the world, forests are generally being fragmented and as plant populations decline in both sizeand number of individuals, the genetic variation will also decrease whitch in the end leads to totalextinction of the plant. In this paper, I wanted to investigate what specific species of trees and shrubsyou usually find in the edge and core habitats in some of the forests in the Baltic Sea region. I alsowanted to identify the edge effects and their sources and finally compare the results between thedifferent regions.The data sources used are derived from the ongoining research project Landscape structures, patterns ofbiodiversity and conservation strategies in the Baltic Sea region by Kari Lehtilä, Patrik Dinnétz ochTiina Vinter who have made a record of all herbaceous plant species in four randomly chosen forestregions situated around the Baltic Sea: Estonia, Skåne, Södermanland and Germany. I made statisticalanalyses, using the computer program R, concerning the distribution of species in the edge habitats ofthe forests as well as in the core habitats. I performed generalized linear models and then variationanalyses with the factors light and biomass in order to investigate wether edge effects might appear dueto these factors.

Diversity of ground beetles (Col: Carabidae) in managed riparian grasslands. The carabid community in moist seminatural grasslands was studied at three different sites in mid-Sweden. Pitfall trapping was carried out during six weeks in spring and early summer 2003. Eight transects, each containing seven pitfall traps, were placed in three different management regimes, either late or continous grazing, or meadow. The species composition was analysed by ordination analyses, i.e. DCA and CCA.

Intercropping involving trees is called agroforestry and makes it possible to get higher production for every area unit. The trees can function as food, fodder, fuel, medicine; prevent mark erosion and much more. Agroforestry can also be combined with animal husbandry. The aim of this study was to document the animal production systems used by rural small-scale farmers maintaining ruminants and using agroforestry in the northern province of Rwanda. The farmers using agroforestry is expected to have higher milk yield than average due to homegrown protein. The method used during the study was semi-structural interviews with booth open and closed questions. In order to get in contact with farmers that matched the criteria; small-scaled rural farmers with ruminants and using agroforestry, the ?Vi Agroforestry Programme? (Vi-Life) in Kigali were contacted and the staff worked as supervisors, translators and contact with the farmers throughout the study. During the study nine individual farmers, two cooperatives breeding sheep and one group interview were conducted.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relation between certain chosen fundamental factors (emission trading rights, hydrological balance, interaction with continental Europe, fuel prices) and the spot price at Nord Pool. Particular focus has been put on the trade with emission rights since it is only now their actual impact on electricity prices can be studied. The relationships are measured with regression analysis which includes both R2 and the simulation possibilities of ARX models. The studied period covers 2008 and 2009 with partly daily data and partly weekly data. Owing to the expected higher importance of the fundamentals during the winter months the winter 2008/2009 has been studied separately.

Biogas is an expanding sector within the broad field of agriculture and animal production. Small-scale biogas offers local combined power and heating production and the substrate is transformed into high-quality biological fertilizer. This bachelor thesis focuses on a pig farm in south-western Sweden, where biogas is produced from pig manure, evaluates and suggests ways of optimizing the process and investigates whether investing in an upgrading plant would be a feasible and more cost-efficient option. The results show that the biogas plant is working well, although the production differs from the original plans. This shows in turn that planning and examining the basic conditions before making the investment is of great importance, as well as monitoring and keeping detailed statistics of the running process.

Prescribed burning was commonly used for site preparation in Sweden to establish new forests until the 1960?s, when mechanical scarification was introduced. During recent decades the interest in prescribed burnings has increased again, mainly due to certifications of forestry stating that 5% of the regeneration areas should be burned on dry and mesic soils. The objective of the study was to evaluate actual influence of prescribed burning compared to other site preparation on stand stem density, growth parameters and tree damages for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) after direct seeding and planting. The study also attempts to simulate growth until first thinning.

The importance of micropropagation has increased to provide the increasing fields with true to type and healthy plants. Traditional plants are growing on solid agar-based medium but lately liquid medium has become a new opportunity. This study has focused on a new bioreactor, developed on large scale micropropagation. Potato (Solanum tuberosum L. ?Semlo?), raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.

In the process of making carton boards into Skoghall Mill, are great quantities of water being contaminated. This water has to be treated before it is possible to release into the recipient, Kattfjorden. One of the contaminations that is important to extract from the wastewater, is organic carbon (measured as TOC-total organic carbon) because microbiological breakdown can lead to the bottom becomig free of oxygen.The wastewater treatment at Skoghall Mill is done through an external wastewater treatment that is located at the factory. The biological treatment (aerated lagoon) is a 140 000 m3 water pool with surface aerator, which is give oxygen to the water. In the lagoon live microorganisms who performs the biggest part of the TOC-reduction.One problem with the lagoon is that the treatment of TOC is considerably worse during wintertime than during summertime.

Cultivable land is a limited resource and agriculture contributes to some of the most serious environmental problems facing the planet like, global warming, eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. The specialized, industrial agriculture with monoculture and extensive input of external energy, commercial fertilizer, and chemical pesticides are all essentially unsustainable. An adaptation to other methods of production is necessary to preserve the environment for future generations. The aim of this study is to describe the factors that distinguish sustainable from unsustainable agriculture. The results will be used to examine if and how the European Union (EU) works in order to create a more sustainable agricultural industry and to analyze the preconditions for such development.