Aquaponics is a food production system consisting of a consecutive cultivation of plants and aquatic animals, fish or shellfish, in recirculating water. The plants feed on the nutritious effluents from the fish tank and bacteria converts ammonia from the fish tank into nitrate that is absorbed by the plants. The plants receive nutrition and the fish gain purified water. The environmental impact of the production of fish meal and fish oil used in conventional fish feed includes a large consumption of fossil fuels with subsequent Carbon dioxide emission. The aquaponic system can be made environmentally sustainable and self-supporting if supplemented with a vermicompost/vermiculture for the production of worm protein as a fish feed. Vegetable waste from the hydroponic part of the system can be reused as worm feed in the compost and the protein rich worms can be harvested, dried and grinded and brought back to the aquaculture as fish feed. As a first step in this direction, I have investigated the effect of recycling of vegetable waste in vermicomposts on the growth and number of earthworms (this was evaluated after harvesting). The hypotheses were that earthworms can be cultivated in the vegetable waste and that by adding manure to the vermicompost it is possible to obtain a nutrient content adequate to support a continuous worm harvest, in other words create a vermiculture. Eisenia fetida and Dendrobaena veneta were grown in 20 L bins containing peat mixed with either poultry or cattle manure. The proportions were 70% peat and 30 % manure. Discarded plant parts from lettuce cultivation was added to the vermicomposts (35 g per week) and water was supplied with 0.8 L per week.

To produce milk of good standard the feed for the animals kept for milk production is an important part in the work of quality. This makes it important to feed them with good forage, especially when feeding with silage. The process of making silage is very complex and requires a careful handling to be successful. The fundamental idea is to create an anaerobic environment in the herbage to favour the desirable micro-organisms, in this case the lactic acid bacteria. This environment is created by careful handlings were the importance is to pack the crop well and cover it as soon as possible to exclude oxygen.

AbstractThe purpose of project is to study the possibility for Borås Energy & Environment to build and run a commercial ethanol production facility in Borås. The project also studies the technology for the production of ethanol using renewable energy, e.g. lignocelluloses with focus on two processes, svag-syra hydrolyse and enzymatic hydrolyse. The technology of the process is based of hydrolysation of biomass (hemicelluloses and cellulose) to sugar and extract it to ethanol. These two techniques will compare with each other to determine which of them that it?s more suitable for ethanol production.

På senare år har en ny trend inom miljöarbetet uppstått. Istället för att bara vara miljövänliga tar vissa företag och organisationer det hela ett steg längre och klimatkompenserar för de utsläpp de har. Företag som klimatkompenserar hävdar att de gör allt de kan för att först och främst minska de direkta utsläpp som de förorsakar. Som en sista åtgärd, för att ytterligare minska företagets påverkan på miljön, kompenserar företagen för sina utsläpp genom att delta i något miljöfrämjande projekt. De bakomliggande motiven till att klimatkompensera är främst ett starkt miljöengagemang inom företaget sedan tidigare.

This is a graduate work at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, The Department of Urban and Rural Development, Ultuna. The purpose of this paper has been to find out and describe principles for designing parks that offers good recreational and aesthetical values and require little amount of Carbon dioxide emissions during their maintenance. The purpose has also been to see if it's possible to use city wastewater in some extent to assure the plants water supply and to find other means to make it less necessary to use purified water for watering. Recently made studies as well as older ones show how important green areas are in dense city structures both from a health and a climate perspective. Trees and other plants adsorbs different forms of air pollution and can also lower the temperature in the surrounding area through their transpiration.

In connection with Henriksdals wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) a smaller plant is situated called Sjöstadsverket where new methods for wastewater treatment are tested and evaluated in different process lines. On one of the lines experiments with enhanced biological phosphorous removal (EBPR), have been carried out to evaluate if it is a good alternative to traditional chemical phosphorus removal. This thesis evaluates the results from the experiments conducted during fall 2005.The incoming water from Hammarby Sjöstad consists of only household wastewater, which gives a wastewater with high concentrations of nutrients and organic carbon. This is partly positive, because one of the limiting factors for effective biological phosphorus removal is the lack of easily biodegradable organic carbon. The high concentrations of ammonium and phosphorus demand a high reduction to achieve the requirements of outgoing concentration.To optimize the process experiments with different recirculations and different aeration techniques have been made.

The housing sector of today represents for almost 40% of the energy consumption, an energy consumption of which the major part consists of non-renewable energy sources. This is not sustainable and utilization of new energy-efficient technologies in buildings can be a step in the right direction, towards a sustainable energy society.This report has been made on behalf of and in cooperation with Älvstranden Utveckling AB in Gothenburg to examine how future energy-efficient technologies can affect the energy demand in energy-efficient multi-dwelling buildings.The report is based on Älvstrandens passive house, Hamnhuset, a house whose energy consumption is far below the BBR's requirements. The report looks at the opportunities for improvement within windows, insulation, solar energy technologies, as well as white goods. Computer simulations are then made to apply the selected technologies into a reference building. Technologies are selected from an energy efficient perspective and no account has been taken of other aspects such as the economy.

Nitrogen deposition leads to environmental damage in areas where the nitrogen deposition is high. Southwest Sweden receives an annual nitrogen deposition of up to 20 kg N/ha. Nitrogen that is not assimilated by the vegetation is accumulated in the soil, which may lead to nitrogen saturation and an elevated risk of nitrogen leaching. Nitrogen leaching from forest areas in southern Sweden has proven to be higher than from agricultural areas, which have been thought to be the main contributors to elevated nitrogen levels in rivers and lakes. The amount of nitrogen that leaches depends on the fraction of the total nitrogen in the soil that consists of nitrate, since nitrate is easily transported through the soil.

I en värld där människan är det enda djur som lämnar efter sig avfall som inte kan brytas ned naturligt, är det viktigt att avfallet vi producerar tas om hand på bästa möjliga sätt. EU har därför tagit fram en prioriteringsordning för hur avfallet ska behandlas. Denna kallas avfallshierarkin och ska ligga till grund för medlemsländernas lagstiftning om avfallshantering. I Sverige kallas byggsektorn för den ?40-procentiga sektorn? vilket syftar på att 40 procent av Sveriges avfall genereras av denna sektor.

Buildings worldwide account for 40 % of the total energy use. Climate change is of increasing importance, but few are willing to reduce their standard of living or get a higher cost for the change. Energy efficiency of existing buildings gives the greatest benefit economically and environmentally. The real estate company Klövern AB manages 46 properties in Karlstad. Heating is the major cost of the total operating costs of real estate. Rising energy prices increase the need for Klövern AB to improve energy efficiency and to investigate alternative sources of heat.

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.

Small hydropower plants have been an important source for electricity for many years. During the 70?s the general thought was that nuclear was the future. Around 2000 small waterpower plants were shut down. It wasn?t profitable to invest in.

The report aims to describe the austenitic stainless steel Sanicro 25 from a thermomechanical point of view. The thermal and mechanical properties of the material make it suitable for use in coal ? and thermal power plants. By the use of Sanicro 25 it would be possible to bring the efficiency of these plants up while bringing the carbon emissions down.A material model is created from material testing and validated through simulation in the finite element software Abaqus. The model that has been derived describes the material behavior during loading and stress relaxation for the first cycle in a thermomechanical fatigue test well.

I Sverige är det lagstadgat att djur skall vara bedövade innan de slaktas. Att upprätthålla en god djurvälfärd i slaktsituationen är inte enbart en grundpelare i vår svenska djurskyddslag, utan även en ständigt aktuell fråga som engagerar både livsmedelsproducenter likväl som konsumenter. Bedövning av grisar utförs i stor utsträckning med hjälp av koldioxid. Denna metod är vida omdiskuterad och ofta ifrågasatt ur djurvälfärdsaspekt. Detta då gasen är erkänt aversiv för djurslaget ifråga.

Assessing the outcome of corporate responsibility is often argued to be complicated due to long-term effects and qualitative aspects. Epstein (2008, p.261) establishes that: ?Though many think that sustainability is too difficult to measure, companies have found that unless the impacts are measured, they are commonly ignored in the resource allocation process?. Corporate responsibility is often referred to as a business case, i.e., that social and environmental concern add value to the business (Heikkurinen, 2010; Porter & van der Linde, 1995). Hence, for corporate responsibility to be a business case a strategy, corporate structure and systems, programmes and actions linked to performance measures need to be in place to assess the outcome; environmental, social as well as financial.