In Sweden, grass is the single largest crop grown. Nearly 1 000 000 Ha grows on the fields, this is primarily used as feed for livestock. To get a good seed, you need to handle the crop carefully from planting to delivery. The part that I have been interested in, is how to dry the harvested seed with out destroying the growth in the small seed. This is very easily done if you aren?t careful during the drying period.

En av de största orsakerna till den massiva förlusten av växtarter, är fragmenteringen av habitat. I Europa är öppna naturbetesmarker och ängar de habitat som genomgått de största förändringarna i och med jordbrukslandskapets omstruktureringar under 1900-talet. I den här studien inventerades kärlväxter på 5 olika öar i kulturlandskapet Lurö skärgårds naturreservat. Syftet var att ta reda på hur diversiteten bland kärlväxtarter skiljer sig mellan hävdade gräsmarker och f.d. gräsmarker där hävd upphört och hur ett förändrat landskap spelat roll för artantalets utveckling eller tillbakagång.

In today?s society climate change has grown to one of the largest global issues. To reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, large changes of the energy system are required. An increasingly popular solution is investments in local production of renewable energy resources like wind, solar or geothermal power. The following report examines the possibility for implementing a solar power plant on the new hospital Nya Karolinska Solna. Two different technologies for extraction of solar energy has been studied, solar thermal collectors  to meet the need of heating and solar cells to satisfy the need for electricity linked to operating the hospital building.

Lack of dead wood is the main cause of decaying or loss of populations for many forest species. To increase the amount of dead wood is a prerequisite to maintain biodiversity in forests of northern Europe. In summer 2006 the recreation area Klåveröd, at Söderåsen in Skåne, Sweden, has been inventoried for high stumps (snags) of beech, (Fagus sylvatica). The result of the inventory has been compared with data of the real estate and forest management directories from the owner, region Skåne. The results have also been matched with the results from an inventory of saproxylic beetles in 2005, performed with windowtraps on selected snags both in the area and the adjacent national park Söderåsen. 594 snags were found on 747 ha.

The natterjack toad (Bufo calamita) is one of three species of toads living in Sweden. During the last decades declines in population numbers have been detected and are thought to be primarily due to loss of habitat, overgrown breeding ponds and competition from common toad (Bufo bufo) and common frog (Rana temporaria). In 2012 20 ponds in the location of Glommeskallen in Smögen were restored by clearing the ponds from overgrowth. The aim of this study was to investigate if natterjack toads used the restored ponds and if the restoration had made an impact on the natterjack population on the location. Presence of common toad and common frog was recorded, as was the presence of eggs and larvae of any of the three species.

Along with rising energy prices and increasing awareness of environmental issues, the criteria for buildings energy performance have been sharpened through the years. Today, ?passive house? and ?low energy house? are commonly used phrases in the construction industry and is expected to become increasingly common in the future.For houses with well-insulated building envelope the importance of well constructed details increases when minimizing the heat losses. Examples of these details are floor-wall junction and window openings in the wall. In such connections thermal bridges occur, which means that heat more easily is transported out of the building, compared to the rest of the building envelope.This report deals with detail solutions around windows and a comparison between a traditional slab and a foundation from Koljern consisting of foam glass.

This bachelor thesis aims to draw attention to sound in the heritage sector in Sweden. In particular, to thesoundscapes that can be identified in our cultural heritage environments. Sounds in an environment, here calledsoundscapes, affect our perception of the environment and how we remember it.To find out how the heritage sector uses and would be able to use sounds, I have firstly studied if audio recording iscomparable with the visual photographic image. I then present examples of sound documentation concerning theconservation of built environment. In addition, I have interviewed five key informants who all have a centralresponsibility for five cultural heritage environments.

Den här studien undersöker hur vegetationen förändras mellan 1979 och 2010 i området som idag är Hornborgasjöns naturreservat. Sjösänkningar i området ledde till att ett igenväxt träskområde ersatte en viktig vattenreservoar och närsaltfälla. Restaureringsarbetet under 80-talet var banbrytande och antagligen ett av vår tids mest omfattande naturvårdsarbete. Studien svarar också på om restaureringen uppnådde sitt mål och om resultatet blev som man tänkt sig.I arbetet skapades en aktuell vegetationskarta för 2010, denna jämfördes med en i arbetet digitaliserad vegetationskarta från 1979. Kartbilder skapades och justerades i ArcGIS och vegetationsytornas area framtogs för att möjliggöra en vegetationsanalys mellan kartorna.

Sand pits are a valuable habitat which can hold many sand living species including several endangered ones. As many sand habitats with exposed sand are declining, sand pits have a potential as a substitute habitat. This study was conducted to see what effect the area of a sand pit has on species number and composition of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae). Also, the effects of other environmental variables were tested, for example the proportion open sand, vegetation cover, sun exposure and tree cover. The study was conducted in the county of Uppsala in 2008 and included 13 sand pits with areas between 200 and 180,000 m2.

The viscosity of air buildings is a hot topic within the construction performers, which the industry feel they have too little knowledge about. This study is mainly aimed against air density in apartment buildings and airflow measurement. The study consists of a theoretical reference, educational visit, interviews and a survey conducted among construction workers at Magistratshagen in Linkoping.Earlier requirement in terms of air leakage through the climate screen was removed and today there are only energy requirement for a dwelling in Boverkets Building Regulations. The difference between a passive and a typical air tight construction is that the passive house have a maximum requirement of 0.3 l /s m2 of air leakage through the building climate screen. The requirement imposed on passive houses is to minimize the supply of power and energy for heating the building.Air tight constructions have heavy demands on the performance and accuracy of everyone involved with the project. The client must specify their requirements and also be prepared to pay for any additional costs. The architect and building planners have to design the building with regard to air tightness. Finally, the construction workers are required to do a careful work in order to get all the connections in the building air tight.The study suggests that an air tight building is a closed system where no forced ventilation exists. There are no reasons not to build too tight as long as there is a functioning ventilation. In this study the authors ask themselves how an air tight building changes over time. No theoretical information has been found on these changes, but the respondents assume that air density decreases with time. The deterioration is mainly assumed to be caused by construction materials changes over time. The study shows that construction workers knowledge of air tight construction is mixed, which they themselves admit in the survey..

An increasing number of heat pump producers have developed heat pumps that can be connected to solar panels. In this thesis we have examined the possibilities of connecting solar panels to existing ground source- and geothermal heat pumps that has not been adapted to solar panels. During the work process, a prototype plant has been built to compare our theory with the practical results and with our designed sizing tool. The work has rendered in knowledge that will be used to build a sun module that can be easily connect to the existing heat pump system. The existing heat pump, our test plant, has been supplemented by an advanced storage tank used to allow different operating modes.

För att tillgodose den studerande KTH byggnadens framtida krav kommer det befintliga ventilationssystemet att bytas ut. Två olika möjliga värmeåtervinningssystem har jämförts ur fjärrvärmebehovssynpunkt. Det befintliga systemet med vattenburen batterivärmeväxlare har en låg värmeåtervinningsgrad och Akademiska Hus önskar system med högre värmeåtervinning. I byggnaden har roterande värmeväxlare och frånluftsvärmepump för uppvärmning av tilluften jämförts. Då värmeåtervinning från dessa system inte är tillräckligt kommer fjärrvärme att används.I beräkningarna jämförs fem roterande värmeväxlare mot varierande antal frånluftsvärmepumpen.

The climate changes and the global warming have a great impact on the Arctic environments. This partially depends on that the albedo is getting lower when snow and ice is melting and exposes more and more dark surfaces of the land and sea. This leads to a feedback effect; the melting accelerates because dark surfaces attract more sun radiation. Because of the heating the glaciers in Arctic retreat. The purpose of this report is to obtain an eventual change in elevation on the glacier Lomonosovfonna that is located on Svalbard by comparing elevation data collected by NASA and GPS data from 1996-2012.

Fjärrvärmen utgör idag ungefär 12 % (48 TWh) av Sveriges totala energianvändning. Starka argument att använda fjärrvärme för att tillgodose bostäders och lokalers värmebehov är möjligheten att använda olika bränslen av skiftande pris och kvalitet, den goda verkningsgraden en centraliserad värmeanläggning erhåller samt fördelen med att kombinera produktionen av el och värme.Halmstad energi och miljö (HEM), förser Halmstad och närområdet med fjärrvärme och total mängd producerad energi uppgick 2009 till 596 GWh. Avfall och biobränsle utgör den största produktionsandelen men även industriell spillvärme samt mindre mängder olja och naturgas används för att framställa värme.Konkurrenssituationen för fjärrvärme är på många orter i det närmsta monopolistisk där en stor aktör äger hela marknaden. Det är viktigt att förbättra fjärrvärmesystemet för att i framtiden behålla dess konkurrenskraft. Följande rapport utreder och beskriver åtgärder för att göra ett redan befintligt fjärrvärmesystem mer effektivt.Utifrån möten med personal på HEM har tio punkter presenterats, vilka utvärderar olika delmoment i Halmstads fjärrvärmesystem.

This graduate thesis takes its hold in an idea that many values, in cultural heritage environments, other than the onesthat can be seen with the eyes are as important for the experience of the environment as the visual ones; however theenvironments are usually defined by values that can be experienced visually!Interviews were held with four visually impaired persons. This to get a better understanding for how big part othersense modalities play in the experience of the cultural heritage environments. Questions were asked about what thevisually impaired especially value in cultural heritage environments and what is of value for preservation. Also whatcan be done to make the environments more impressive for them, how they experience the material part of theheritage, architecture, shape and color and with what senses they primarily remember. Furthermore the thesis aims todraw attention to how value definitions made by the conservation field affects the experience of the environmentsand therefore the accessibility for visually impaired.