Smallholder farmers in Uganda suffer from declining productivity. With a rapidly increasing population, marginal land is taken into production and the current land management leads to loss in soil fertility and escalation in soil erosion. There are studies indicating that the use of agroforestry increases soil organic carbon (SOC) compared to systems without trees. Soils which are high in carbon have many advantages, for example better water holding capacity, which can reduce stress on crops during drought. The aim of this study was to determine the effect agroforestry has on SOC concentration in small-holder farming systems in Uganda. The intended system to study was farms practicing agroforestry methods or not in intercropped plantain (cooking banana) fields.

Combustion of fossil fuels is today the dominating source of energy. During combustion,carbon dioxide is formed. The carbon dioxide accumulates in the atmosphere,which raises the global average temperature on earth through the so called greenhouseeffect. The only way to reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide from combustionin a coal fired power plant is through carbon capture and storage (CCS).Post-combustion capture is a technology to separate carbon dioxide from the uegas after the combustion for efficient transport and storage. The steady state operationof coal fired power plants with post combustion capture has already beenthoroughly investigated on a pilot scale, however much work remains to investigatethe plants dynamic operation.

A patient simulator for testing anaesthesia machines has been developed at Maquet Critical Care AB, to reduce costly and time-consuming experiments on animals. The device simulates human lungs regarding lung dynamics and volume, uptake of anaesthetic agents and the production of carbon dioxide, heat and moisture. Further demands on the simulator are durability and size; the device shall be compact enough to be moveable.The resulting simulator fulfils the requirements and enables better repeatability and ability to test extreme cases than experiments on animals do.Uptake of the anaesthetic agent is achieved in a active carbon filter and controlled by regulating the flow. The flow is created by a regenerative blower and controlled using a proportional valve. The uptake can be set by the user or by a simple uptake model modified to recursively handle changes in the concentration of anaesthetic agent.Carbon dioxide is fed into the system from a tank by a mass flow regulator.

With increasing energy prices and increased focus on the environment we saw the need for companies to get control over their energy use and their emission of carbon dioxid. An analysis tool that integrates both these areas is, with our knowledge, not available on the market today. Therefore, our project became to develop such a tool.By doing this degree project we would like to clarify that energy consumption and environmental impact are integrated. The less energy consumed by today?s society the smaller the environmental impact will be.

The idea for this project was initiated together with one of the leaders in the forest, paper and packaging industry. To get through an A/R CDM process the company is exposed to the risk of failing the process or that the overall costs will exceed the benefits of the project. This would delete the incentives to invest in GHG removals compared to purchasing emission allowances on the carbon market. The questions that have been raised and needs clarification in the thesis are the following:? From a company perspective, what are the incentives for implementing Forest Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects?? What is a likely financial outcome of a reforestation CDM project on degraded land in the Guangxi province of the Peoples Republic of China?? When does an investment like this break even with the cost of buying market based carbon emission allowances? The objective of this master thesis is to carry out a research about the incentives for forest, paper and packaging companies to invest in reforestation through the clean development mechanism.

The forest property Fagerdal 2:10 was donated to the Swedish University of Agriculture in 1995 by Erik Rönnberg. The dominating species is Norwegian spruce (Picea Abies) and the average age is high due to selective cutting. The aim of this study has been to analyze how the forest on the property should be managed and demonstrate how a better estimated forest data affects the future management. The impact of the management on the carbon stock of the property was also examined. A forestry plan established in 2009 by Skogssällskapet was used as a basis for the analyses.

The aim of the thesis was to investigate energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from an advertisement broadcasted on the radio or the television or distributed through press. The object was to calculate the amount of carbon dioxide emissions per individual receiver of an advertisement in Sweden. There was no room for a deeper investigation into editorial work within the framework of the thesis. Consequently, main focus of the radio and television study was on broadcasting itself and the components involved. Focus for the press study was on paper production, printing and distribution. Production and discarding of media equipment was not taken into account.

Carbon sequestration through restoration of degraded pastoral soils is an advocated way of mitigating global warming, and simultaneously alleviating poverty. An often proposed rehabilitation strategy is fencing of pastures, a method that was introduced to the farmers of Chepareria by the Vi-Agroforestry organization in 1987. The landscape of Chepareria changed from eroded, over-grazed grasslands, to a mixture of open-grazed commons, pastoral enclosures and cultivations. The aim of this study was to investigate (1) if the soil organic carbon (SOC) is higher inside the enclosures than on the open-grazed commons, (2) if SOC is affected by duration of fencing and (3) what effect cultivation of pastures has on the SOC. Estimations of vegetation cover and deep profile (100cm) soil sampling was performed on six clusters containing; (1) open-grazing (OG) (2) 1-5 years of fencing (FENCED(1)), (3) 7-10 years of fencing (FENCED(2)), (4) 15-23 years of fencing (FENCED(3)), (5) maize from OG (A(OG)), (6) maize from fenced pasture (A(FENCED)).

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.

To investigate effects of nitrogen on in-lake CO2 and CH4 production during winter, three pair of lakes was subject for a fertilizing experiment in which one lake in each pair was fertilized with nitric acid (HNO3) directly into the water column in the summer of 2012. The lakes in each pair are assumed to be morphologically, hydrologically and biologically similar, that is, the non-fertilized lakes are considered references. The pairs do differ in one major way by being progressively less humic, going from around 25 mg/l to 10 mg/l DOC. Sampling and analysis was carried out at the end of the frozen period in 2013. Results show a significantly higher concentration of both CO2 (p<0,001) and CH4 (?=0,1, p=0,053) between impact and reference sites in the two less humic pairs.

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of environmental contaminants that have gained increasing attention due to their potential to bioaccumulate, environmental persistence and potential toxicity. PFASs have been found in surface water, sediment, air, soil, sludge and ice caps globally, as well as in wildlife and humans. Furthermore, PFASs have also been detected in drinking water, leading to raised concerns for human health, since drinking water is one of the most significant sources of PFASs for the general population. Conventional water treatment techniques have shown to be ineffective removing PFASs, highlighting the importance for further research to develop efficient removal techniques. The aim of this study was to investigate the removal efficiency of PFASs in water using two treatment techniques; granular activated carbon (GAC), type Filtrasorb 400®, and anion exchange (AE), type Purolite A-600. Additionally, the effect of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) on removal efficiency was studied.

Globally, coastal ecosystems like mangrove forests, sea grass meadows and salt marshes are well known for their ability to capture and store atmospheric carbon effectively. In Sweden, there is still limited knowledge about local coastal ecosystems with similar functions, with alder swamp forests being an interesting example. Therefore, this study aimed to increase knowledge of the factors that can contribute to the potential carbon sequestering ability of alder swamps. Vegetation data and sediment samples were collected from a total of 37 sampling plots across four alder swamps in Bohusl?n on the Swedish west coast.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and fluxes in forest ecosystems are influenced by natural and human disturbances. In the tropical regions the highest impacts on disturbance in forest C cycles are related to human activities such as conversion of natural lands to cropland and pasture areas and to forest plantations. The disturbances in the forest C cycles will release CO2 emissions to the atmosphere triggering global warming. In this study the focus was set in subtropical soils in Brazil, south extreme region of Bahia. The aim of the study was to investigate whether reforestation of Eucalyptus plantations under former pasture areas will help mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration.

För att kunna gå en hållbar morgondag tillmötes är det viktigt att miljöpåverkan från oss människor uppdagas och sätts i balans. Växthuseffekten är en av de världsomfattande angelägenheter som visat sig påverka ekologin och som för med sig stundande klimatförändringar vars utbredning ännu inte går att förutspå. Förändringar i våra rutiner måste till, och en del i det hela är att öka medvetenheten för utsläppen som sker inom industrin. Kännedomen om storleken och härkomsten av utsläppen är viktig såväl till insikt för konsumenterna som till underlag för vart företagen ska fokusera sitt miljöarbete.Genom att tillämpa livscykelbaserade analysmetoder får företagen en utförlig bild över omfattningen av miljöpåverkan som sker associerat med en produkt. Ett sådant arbete kan även komma att mynna ut i en miljövarudeklaration som kan användas av företaget i syfte att kommunicera utåt mot konsumenter och affärspartners.

The aim of this thesis is to create an understanding of the incentives for forest companies to invest in reducing carbon dioxide emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, which is termed REDD. The Brazilian Amazonas was chosen as the base for the investment case. Brazil has the largest area of rainforest in the world, and also the biggest problem with deforestation. The Amazon region of Brazil comprises rainforest which is largely intact and unexploited. Accordingly, there is significant potential scope for prospective investments in a REDD-project, and so have a noteworthy impact in preventing deforestation.The research approach used the United Nation?s Clean Development Mechanism concept was used as a framework for ascertaining the investment costs in potential REDD-projects.