During 40 years of industrial production, from the end of the 1890?s until the end of 1930?s, coal and wood distillation products were manufactured in AB Carbo?s tar factory along the River Gimån in Grötingen, in the county of Jämtland, Sweden. In accordance with the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency?s Methods for Inventories of contaminated sites, MIFO, the site in Grötingen has been identified as a potentially contaminated site. In order to determine whether toxic substances pose a threat to human health and ecological systems in the area, there was a need to investigate the presence of contaminants, their levels and potential for migration.

The purpose of this report is to increase the awareness about the problem that occur when the waste hierarchy is applied to management of contaminated land. The work with remediation of contaminated land in Sweden is part of the efforts towards reaching the national environmental objectives. Therefore a subsidiary aim is to analyze how this influences the prospects of reaching the objectives. The work consists of two parts; a case study and a comparative literature study that focus on England, the Netherlands and Sweden. The case study is intended to provide a practical perspective through a comparison of the climate impact from two methods.

Boplatsvallar, often translated as semi-subterranean settlements, is an ancient monument with a diffuse definition. Defined as ?embankments that partially or completely surround a often lowered/dug down surface- this category of ancient monuments is also made up of a former category which traditionally was interpreted as winter settlements from the late Stone age in Sweden. This view of the ancient monuments carried over, to a certain extent, to this new definition. Should this be the case, that this category of ancient monuments are remains of winter settlements,  used recurringly over an extended period of time, then they should exhibit similar signals in regards to the distribution of the anthropogenically altered soil chemical and soil physical properties at the sites.The area around Lillsjön, Anundsjö parish in Ångermanland, have four boplatsvallar located separately in the regional area.

In this study we try to focus on the costs for wear parts on different type of soil tillage machines and at Väderstad Rapid drilling machine. We have studied some of the leading types of cultivators and disk harrows. Among the cultivators we have investigated Väderstad Cultus, Dalbo Dinkomax, Horsch Tiger and Terrano. At disk harrow we have looked at Amazone Catros and Väderstad Carrier. We have made more detailed study on costs for wear parts, working depth, driving speed and diesel consumption.

The popularity of vegetated, or green roofs, has grown over the past years due to their potential function of maintaining urban environment quality. The aim of this study was to investigate if substrates with different organic material, peat and charcoal, with two contents (3 or 6 weight%) influenced the growth of the cuttings during the first critical period of the establishment. Biochar is used as amendment to agricultural soils and has, theoretically, many of the properties suitable as organic content in green roof-substrates. Peat is one of the materials that is commercially used in green roof industry. The substrate has been treated with different amounts of water.

The Multispectral Canopy Reflectance Model (MCRM) by Kuusk (1995) has beenused to simulate the reflectance of a sugarbeet canopy. The simulated reflectancevalues show high absorptance in the VIS area, compared to field measurements, andhigh reflectance values in the NIR area. The errors may be due to overestimation ofclorophyll content in the sugarbeet leaves and scattered light during fieldmeasurements. The estimation of the clorophyll content where carried out using thePROSPECT-model by Jacquemoud & Baret (1990).During the vegetation period, the state of the canopy moves towards a closed canopy,with sparse vegetation in spring. The MCRM-model was used to perform a ?spring?simulation, which was compared to the original simulation.

Stabilization of subgrade is an internationally common technique to improve the characteristics of a soft soil. Improving the stiffness and bearing capacity of the subgrade enables the pavement to be designed with reduced depths of subbase and basecourse aggregates. This makes the stabilization technique both economically and environmentally interesting. Both natural and stabilized soils have high inherent property variability that should be considered when the characteristic value is derived. By analyzing the spatial variability in stabilized and natural subgrades it is possible get the parameters needed for reliability?based modeling of soil properties.

The need for snow-free surfaces at squares, bus stops, platforms, car parks and sports facilities increases and at the same time energy price rise and the environment is becoming a hotter issue. The construction of the ground heating systems often lack thermal insulation under the heating pipes, which means that the heat from the pipes not only warm up the soil surface but also heats the surrounding soil. The insulation also has more features, by insulating the risk of frost damage is minimized. The goal of this report is to demonstrate the large heat loss and energy costs in the absence of insulation under the heating system.The report begins with a scientific way to study and treating the soil heating system uses, and the theory involved. Furthermore it also deals with different routing principles of heat pipes depending on the facility.All calculations are made with so called finite element method (FEM), in COMSOL Multiphysics 3,5a, where models are created with different conditions.

The last decades have shown increased nitrogen leeching from soil to water recipients. This is inSweden mainly due to over-manuring of agriculture land, effectivization of drainage systems and thedeclining extent of wetlands. The accumulated amount of nitrogen in water doesn?t only make itunsuitable for use by humans and cattle, but also decreases the biological diversity as well as negativelyaffect tourism and fish industry. In the most severe cases shallow maritime grounds can be completelydepleted of oxygen due to decomposition of the increased amount algae and plankton growth.This study have the aim to describe and quantify the nitrogen leeching from the Genevad drainagebasin, located in southern Halland, Sweden.

The aim of this work was to study if the edge of the forest is more resistant to heavy winds than the trees located further in from the edge, and how this edge effect changes between different types of tree species and site types. The data was collected from an electric power line going from the north to the south of Sweden. The mean value of the clearcutted area around the power line was 120 meters. The main direction of the storm in January 2005 was west-southwest and thus the power line was a perfect place for gathering a large data set. The main parameter studied was the damage frequency at the edge of the forest compared to the trees located further in from the edge (up to 100 m from the power line). Tree species mixture, soil moisture class, soil type, topography, stand height, stand height of the stand on the other side of the power line and wind exposition was estimated. The results showed a distinct edge effect. The edge of the forest had clearly lower damage frequency for all tree species. A marked difference was observed between tree species and damage frequency.

The purpose of this thesis is to collect knowledge of techniques and materials for planning roofgardens. Gardens built on top of buildings is not a new phenomenon, already in the beginning of the century architects were experimenting with roofgardens. During the Modern Era roofgardens appeared as a part of the design and worked well together with flat roofs and the ideas of light, air and greenery. Today the most common kind of roofgarden is on a ground-level joist that hides parking or other underground functions. The most important difference between planning a roofgarden and a garden on the ground is the limitation of the load of the roofgarden. Plants, paving-material and equipment must be chosen with this in mind. A light and thin layer of soil demands plants with small needs for water and nutrition.

Through previous studies during my education, I have experienced that chemical deicing road salt is a known problem, mainly in southern Sweden. Road salt causes damage to the environment and also damage to vehicles and structures such as bridges, etc. Road salt causes vehicles and steel constructions to rust, leading to increased costs for repairs of damage to structures. Road salt also causes damage to the plants and the economy to suffer, when plant material and soil needs to be replaced. In order to get closer to a solution, I put up three questions.

Green manuring is a way of creating an organic fertilizer by growing a crop that is mowed down. Besides the fertilizing effect this method has been shown to have a positive influ-ence on soil organic matter as well as weed flora, and green manure is an important me-thod of weed control in organic farming in parts of Sweden. However, the release of nu-trients from the green manure varies and can therefore be difficult to control. Risks for losses of nutrients are also present. Although the area of organic farmland is increasing in Sweden, the use of green manure is decreasing.This report contains a literature study which compiles research on the functions of green manure in a cropping system and also how the crop can be used if harvested, for example to produce biogas.

The aims of the silvicultural method natural regeneration of spruce (Picea abies L. Karst) in birch (Betula pendula and pubescens) shelterwoods are to establish a new stand of tree seedl-ings and to protect those from high groundwater levels, frost damages and grass competition during its first life years. The aim of this work has been to (i) describe how shelterwood and stand characteristics influ-ence the results from using natural regeneration of spruce protected by a shelterwood of birch, and to (ii) compare those regeneration results with planting of spruce after soil scarification in clear-cut areas. Totally 17 harvesting sites have been inventoried and 15 of those included natural regenera-tion in birch shelterwoods, and two were subjects to soil scarification and planting of spruce. The sites represented 7-10 year old final cuts and are located in the coastal (eastern) region of the province of Norrbotten in Sweden. In all areas shelterwood and stand characteristics, as well as the number of main crop seedlings and the height of the highest main crop spruce seedling, were estimated and registered in all areas.

This report deals with handling and interim storage of soils which are planned tobe reused in construction works. The types of soils that are dealt with are gravel, topsoil and sand. The thesis work has been carried out in collaboration with Skanska Sverige Väg och Anläggning Sydost. The main goal is to find an area for using to store soil in between projects.Studies of laws and regulations regarding exploitation and storage of soil has led to a theoretical background upon which the report is based. Background informationhas also been gathered in meetings with the employees at Tekniska Kontoret and Länsstyrelsen in Jönköping.On the basis of literature studies results, a general template has been developed for which desirable properties a possible location should meet.The model was applied to find a number of possible options in the vicinity of Jönköping.