Cyanobacteria belong to the oldest organisms of our planet. They use photosynthesis to produce ATP and gain biomass from carbon dioxide. The cyanobacteria Nostoc punctiforme is a filamentous bacterium that consists of two different types of cells, vegetative cells and heterocysts. The type of cell it differentiates into depends on the media they grow in. In an ammonium-rich medium, the N.punctiforme consists of vegetative cells that differentiate into heterocysts when in the medium is changed to a low-concentration ammonium medium.

The objective of this study is to examine the sustainability of recovering industrial wasteheat from several heat sources in a foundry constructed in a plant belonging to ITT Waterand Wastewater in Emmaboda, Sweden. A triple bottom line perspective will be appliedto achieve this objective. The triple bottom line approach takes into account ecologicaland social performance in addition to financial performance. The technology forrecovering the waste heat is a Borehole Thermal Energy Storage (BTES) which is aconstruction consisting of 140 vertical boreholes, 150 meters deep with an internal spaceof four meters.The calculated amount of energy for storage is approximately 3800 MWh annually. Ofthis amount 2500 MWh are expected to be utilized, while storage losses accounts for theremaining part.

Compressed air is an energy source that is widely used in today's trucks and buses.Compressor located next to the engine supplies the pneumatic system with the compressed air and is lubricated with the engine oil. Some of the oil follows the air flow in both liquid and solid phase. The solid phase, namely the carbon particles are created due to the high temperature in the compression chamber.Oil- and particles carryover softens and destroys the rubber material in the air valves and disturbs the mechanical function of various components in the pneumatic system. In order to reduce oil- and particles carryover is an Air Processing System (APS) set downstream the compressor.No method for establishment of oil- and particles carryover from the compressor exists at the moment. Therefore the filtration efficiency of APS is currently unknown.

Akademiska hus is a real estate company that specializes in providing Swedish universities with housing facilities for educational and research purposes. The company strives to reduce its use of energy by 40% between the years 2000 and 2025. The aim of this thesis is to determine which measures can be taken to reduce the need of purchased energy in a building that is used by theSwedishUniversityof Agricultural Sciences inUppsala.In order to determine the results of various changes to the building envelope and ventilation system, the building was modelled in the computer simulation program VIP-Energy. Other proposed changes to make the use of energy more efficient concerned water use and lighting. The need of purchased energy can also be reduced by producing electricity or heat on site, using solar energy.Results show that economically viable measures include upgrading windows and faucets, adjusting control systems for ventilation and lighting, and installing roof mounted solar panels for power production.

Sustainability work is something that is emphasized more and more. Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR, is discussed and the question of how much responsibility companies should really take is frequently in the news. Companies tend to ask themselves how much responsibility they should take. CSR is a common concept of companies environmental and social work and a concept we tend to see here and there in our modern society. CSR includes companies? social responsibilities, both in terms of carbon footprint, working conditions, social responsibility and more.

The project aimed to develop a protective and stabilizing insole called Trailplate for soft andlight shoes. The demand came primarily from off-road runners in France, Switzerland, andAustria. The project was carried out at Icebug, a company that develops shoes mainly forrough terrain. The main focus has been on the trailplate which is designed to fit severaldifferent shoes.Torsional stiffness and bending resistance were the main objectives. To improve the existinginsole, a material with the right features was required.

The resting area is the most important place in the barn for the dairy cow, sometimes called the heart of the free stall system. Inadequate design of the lying area, and lack of or poor quality of bedding materials may reduce the hygiene of the stall. Poor management regarding the cleanliness of the resting area may lead to poor animal hygiene and increased bacterial growth. This in turn will lead to increased risk for environmental mastitis as well as impairing milk quality through contamination with spores. In this literature study the most commonly used bedding materials; straw, sawdust, wood shavings, clean sand, recycled sand, peat and recycled manure solids, are compared to one another with regards to their ability to resist bacterial growth. Effects of adding hydrated lime to bedding materials have also been studied. Most bacteria need humidity and prefer a quite high water activity to be able to grow.

In a column experiment the effect of three different biochars on nitrous gas emissions, nitrogenretention and water filled pore space (WFPS) were studied in a Swedish sandy soil, classified as aCryopsamment. Ammonium retention was positively correlated, while KCl-extractable ammoniumwas negatively correlated, with the specific area of the biochars. The question was raised whether thenegative correlation between extractable ammonium and biochar specific area reflects the amount ofammonium present in the soil or its extractability from the biochar, and whether methods forextracting soil mineral nitrogen, like KCl-extractions, have to be modified for application on biocharamended soils. There was a tendency of increased nitrate retention and KCl-extractable nitrate withbiochar and KCl-extractable nitrate was positively correlated with the specific area of the biochar. pHwas higher for all biochars compared with control, although the differences were not significant, andWFPS was lowered by biochar addition, significantly in one case.

To be able to hinder the global warming the emissions of greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide foremost, must decrease. By switching to green electricity, it is possible to reduce the emissions from electricity producing sources.In 1999, Swedenergy conducted a study about whether or not Swedish households would consider buying green electricity. According to the study, about 75 percent were willing to buy green electricity. 40 percent of these were prepared to pay a premium for green electricity. However, according to the results from the study, only one percent actually bought green electricity, and since 1999, this proportion has merely increased slightly.

The aim of my bachelor?s thesis is to investigate, through a literature review, changes in the distribution of filamentous algae as well as the general species composition of macroalgae and diatoms in Swedish eelgrass meadows. I have also studied the possibility of tracking these algae and diatoms in eelgrass meadows using eDNA methodology. The focus has been on linking these changes to climate change factors such as eutrophication, temperature increase, and anthropogenic emissions, and how these affect the health of eelgrass meadows and their ecosystem services, such as a carbon sink and biodiversity support. The results show that filamentous algae have increased markedly in coverage in Swedish coastal areas between 1980 and 2021, especially in sheltered bays, indicating that altered environmental conditions favor these fast-growing species. Genetic tracking using eDNA demonstrated that there are functional primers for many species, particularly among brown algae and red algae, whereas green algae require more specific primers due to greater genetic variation.

Finnhamn is a small group of islands in the Stockholm archipelago. At Stora Jolpan, the biggest island, there is a hostel. The main building was built in 1915 and is called Utsikten. The purpose of this project is to on behalf of the Archipelago Foundation (Skärgårdsstiftelsen) find alternative systems that can replace the existing heating system of Utsikten (an oil-fired boiler and electricity heaters) to a system with renewable energy. The alternative system that this project focuses on is a system of solar collectors combined with a wood chip boiler.

The industrial sector accounts for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce its negative impact on the environment is crucial in the quest for a sustainable future. In discussions of the industrial sector's impact on the environment guidelines have been highlighted as a tool to assist the industries in their efforts to change the relationship between the consumption of energy and production. This by improving energy efficiency and a shift to the best available technology. During the past 30 years the steel industry has reduced its energy consumption per ton of steel produced by 50 percent.

Until recently the Danish government was hesitant about whether investments in climate and energy policies were the right strategy for Denmark. Today the Danish government argues that during the forthcoming climate conference in Copenhagen in 2009 (COP15), the world's countries must agree upon ambitious climate objectives. Denmark is together with EU-27 aiming at an ambitious climate agreement. This thesis intends to contribute with an understanding of why Denmark, both politically and economically, invests profound resources into committing the world's countries to a climate agreement. The study uses both a neoliberal institutionalism and a constructivist theory in analyzing the Danish engagement.

I mer än hälften av Sveriges sjöar innehåller gädda en kvicksilverhalt som övergår Food and Agriculture Organization?s (FAO) rekommendationer. Det kvicksilver som finns lagrat i svensk skogsmark är ett resultat av antropogent nedfall. Studier visar att kvicksilver utlakas vid skogsbruksåtgärder på hela skogsmarken som en följd av förhöjd rörlighet av dissolved organic carbon (DOC). En ökad metylering av kvicksilver sker vid vattenmättade, syrefattiga förhållanden där det finns tillgång till organiskt material.

The aim of this report was to quantify the accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in ice-covered lakes in winter (October-March) during three consecutive years, and to assess whether the concentrations of DIC and CH4, as well as the ratio DIC:CH4 differs between years and between lakes affected by clearcutting and untreated reference lakes. Water- and gas samples were collected from four boreal lakes (two affected by clearcutting and two untreated reference lakes) located in Västerbottens inland in spring. The lakes were found to accumulate on average 91, 55, and 84 mgCm-2d-1 during winters 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015, mostly originating from CO2. The concentrations of DIC (autumn and spring) were higher in the affected clear-cut lakes compared to reference lakes for all years, including the reference year (2012-2013) before clear-cutting. No such difference was found for CH4 or the ratio DIC:CH4.