With rising energy prices and the threat of climate change, energy costs and energy savings havebecome a central and important part in building. Therefore it is interesting to explore different andnon-conventional methods of energy conservation. Building Earth sheltered houses is such a method.Earth provides good insulation and provides the ability to both reduce the total heating needs and toreduce the maximum power demand. The aim of this study was to construct a house in Malmö and seeif Earth sheltered houses can be a cost effective alternative for the construction of sustainable andenergy-efficient houses.Previous studies have shown that Earth sheltered houses have reduced their power requirement with upto 25% and their use of energy with 10%. Numerical calculations in Comsol Multiphysic 4.2, wasperformed on a house with different degrees of earth covering.

Everywhere you look in today?s society many kinds of people are constantly interacting with each other. Especially in large groups of people working together, the phenomenon is even greater. In the construction industry there are many kinds of parts that need to come together in order to get sustainable and successful results. Therefore the relationship between the contractor and the construction client must be at its best.

The aim of this study is to find a method to incorporate the energydemand of a building in the investment cost estimate.The study is based on an actual apartment block. The significant energyaspects are identified, and changed to more energy efficient options.These are then simulated using the energy calculation program VIP+.The calculated energy need is used in the investment cost estimate, andthe simulated alternatives are compared in regards to their economicalprofitability.Depending on the focus, different alternatives are the most advantageous.Since this study aims to show which alternative is the mosteconomically profitable, the annual profit is the parameter of mostimportance. This means that individual measuring of heating and hotwater use is the recommended change of the original house. A changeof the windows to new ones with a U-value of 1,0 as well as 0,8W/m2K also results in a positive change of the annual profit comparedto the original house..

Housing construction very close to the lake Mälaren has become very popular today. One potential problem with these houses is the influence of the sea climate. Unprotected buildings are affected by strong winds and precipitation. So for that reason, it is very important to make an accurate climate investigation and use it for decision-making during the planning of the new settlement.It is very important with a good moisture protection regarding pelting rain, that is the combination of wind and rain. This is more important for buildings close to a lake, as this location normally means a higher exposure to wind.

This essay represents a chronological and contextual analysis of clay pipes that have been found in the urban settlement of Västergarn during seminary excavations between 2006 ? 2012, conducted by Gotland University. Clay pipes can be dated closely and are useful means for dating and interpreting archaeological contexts from the early modern period, such as house foundations. There have been excavated four house foundations in Västergarn with different sorts of clay pipes dating to the post-medieval period. Can they tell which people used them or which country they were produced? By discussing the meaning of clay pipes in early modern society on Gotland this essay tries to answer these questions..

The phenomenology of Gaston Bachelard holds that readers, or viewers, relate to spatial imagery through the use of age-old archetypes. These archetypes form a collective image-memory that is employed when reading space. One such image is the house. The house for Bachelard is, however, never solely an image, but constitutes a familiar space that becomes inscribed in our bodies through the repeated physical contact with this domestic space. The house teaches us to interact with space, and comes to inform the way that human beings understand images of space.

This candidate.?s work includes designing of a house with it.?s structural components andinstallations. The house had to be actual with Building Regulations (Boverkets Byggregler).Beside designing of all the crucial systems necessary for completing of claimed regulations evenan optional topic within building engineering had to be chosen.The task included designing of heating, ventilation, sanitation and electricity systems. Structuralengineering models has been made in compliance with Eurocodes. Materials for facades, floorsand roof were chosen and evaluated.As recessed portion of the work, evaluating of possibilities in designing of a glass roof waschosen.

Dust that arises during the construction process is called ?construction dust?.People who are exposed for construction dust for a long period of time are atrisk to develop several forms of lung problems, allergies and cancer. Todayconstruction dust is a huge problem during the production in Skanska´srenovation projects. Every day workers are exposed of the unhealthyconstruction dust and it can cause lung problems and diseases after 10-30years. This is a problem that must be taken into account to obtain a betterworking environment on Skanska´s building sites.Skanska Sweden AB has given two students the task to investigate possibleproblems about the spreading of construction dust.

This essay discuss if Bronze Age cult houses were present at Gotland during the Bronze Age. Bronze Age cult houses are a well know phenomenon on mainland Sweden but because of inventory problems no Bronze Age cult houses have been found on Gotland. The main reason for the inventory problems are the Iron Age house foundations that are present in a large number on Gotland, the cult houses and the Iron Age houses have some design details that makes them difficult to separate from each other. In this essay a number of criteria are presented to help separate cult houses from the Iron Age house foundations. Three criteria?s regarding cult houses on Gotland is also presented in this essay.Two house foundations that PhD student Joakim Wehlin, University of Gothenburg and Gotland University, found in Vallstena parish, Gotland, are presented in this essay.

In light of the massive property bubbles that have been bursting in the USA, Spain and Ireland during the last decade, the aim of this thesis is to clarify whether ? or to what degree - the municipality of Stockholm might experience a property bubble in the near future. The municipality of Stockholm is undergoing a housing shortage and house prices have risen during the last few years. Neoliberalism and property bubbles are used as a theoretical framework in this paper. The methodology consist of semi structured interviews, analysis of documents and statistical data from Eurostat, Valueguard and the Swedish administrative authority; Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB).

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how representations of identity construction are performed through the characters in the novel Snabba Cash by author Jens Lapidus. I examine what means the characters are using, and how the identity construction processes are related to the idea of modern society. For a theoretical background I use sociologist Anthony Giddens? theories regarding modernity and self-identity, to study general identity construction.

It?s a fact that the climate is affected by the vehicle that runs on the worlds roads. But theconstruction of the road itself is rarely thought of as a climate threat. Svevia and the Swedish roadadministration have opposite views of how the construction of roads should be carried thru. It?sthe difference between those two construction methods that is the base in our thesis.The amount of energy use or the emissions are not analyzed for neither the Swedish roadadministrations nor Svevias construction models.

The housing sector uses 40 % of the energy in Sweden and half of the electricity usage. Theuse of energy is the main reason to the increasing rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.This is the main motive but also a wish of higher safety, that is a higher rate of selfsufficientenergy production in Sweden, we want to decrease the need of using fossil fuel. Now whenthe energy price rise, the interest in energy issues increase and more people discuss thepossibility of reducing the usage of fossil fuel. A change to renewable energy such as sun,wind and water is the only solution where we can get a sustainable development.One way to contribute to a better use of energy is to build in the principle of passive house.The house is being built with a thick and tight insulation. If you use a heat-exchanger withhigh degree of efficiency and a final heating battery on the ventilation system, the heat fromlamps, devices and the ones living in the house should be enough to fulfil the criteria ofliving.

All new households were to be constructed with "near zero energy house standards" (NZE-house) by the year of 2020. The ambition to construct energy-efficient buildings had to increase rapidly in the spring of 2013.The purpose of this report was to increase the interest for building contractors to construct apartment buildings with passive house standards. By locating and evaluating experiences from an existing passive house a case study including interviews, field visits and document analysis was made. Research of literature regarding other passive houses in Sweden also helped to answer the following questions:- What positive and negative experiences have the study of the passive house meant to the involved stakeholders and residents?- What improvements can be made based on identified experiences?- How can an apartment building be designed as a passive house based on possible improvements?By collecting good and bad experiences, as well as improvements and potential design proposals, a diagram was created designed as a tool for developers when constructing apartment buildings with passive house standards.

In connection with the property crises in many countries, caused by the financial crises, people are now more aware of the risks involved in poor property-investments. The unusually cold winters along with extreme prices of electricity in Sweden in recent years has also contributed to increased interest in energy-efficient buildings.The process of developing a modern family home in Kiruna, Sweden is presented the first part of this paper. The house has been designed to withstand very high stresses from snow, low energy consumption as well as a high standard of living comfort. Aspects of the house covered here involves everything from construction, heating and ventilation to sanitation. Each of these areas is presented based on their underlying, scientific methods or theories.