The sun is essential to life on earth and no matter where you are, there is a constant need ofenergy. Nearly 800 000 years ago man learned for the first time to use fire in a controlled way.Since then, fire has given us the opportunity to inhabit places despite a cold climate. In Swedenthe resident sector accounts for a major part of the total consumption of energy. In a time whenenvironmental issues and greenhouse effects are increasing, we also see a future of rising energyprices. With this perspective, we have in this bachelor thesis in the Building Environment at theRoyal Institute of Technology, KTH, in Stockholm decided to focus on the renewable energysource, solar energy.The energy from solar radiation is a free resource and does not have any negative effects uponthe environment.

This thesis aims to present the essential background on how to perform climate changeimpact assessments, and to present the results from a climate impact assessment on waterbalance and nitrate leaching for an arable Swedish soil. The soil is a sandy soil in southwesternSweden, grown with spring cereals. This study is meant to be a benchmark example,and cannot be seen as a regional or national assessment for Sweden, rather as an approachto present and analyze the most important parts of these kinds of assessments.A dynamical simulation model (COUP, Jansson and Karlberg, 2004) was used for thisstudy. The model was parameterized and calibrated against data from an experimental site,located in Mellby in Hallands county, south western Sweden. Measurements were carriedout between 1st of April 1988 and 1st of April 1991.

Reducing the CO2-pollution, resulting from the combustion of fossil coal for energyproduction, is important to affect environmental changes. One way to achieve a reductionis to use the oxy-fuel technology. The technology uses O2 and re-circulated flue gasduring the combustion which results in a flue gas mainly consisting of CO2. The flue gascould then be compressed and stored without environmental effects. A problem thatfollows from the compression is the risk of acidification in sensitive parts of the process.Acidification can occur because of reactions following from the contact of condensedwater and sulphur- and nitrogen-oxides which are also present in the flue gas.This report compiles and evaluates the basis of a scientific unit with the purpose ofexploring the possibilities of extracting impurities of SOx and NOx from the flue gases.The dimensions of the unit are based on basic conditions, defined for an existing oxy-fuelprocess at Chalmers, and on the results of computer modelling.

The water tower in Uppsala city forest was built in the late 1950's in what is now a nature reserve. The unique place was supposed to be visited by people, which is currently not the situation. This bachelor thesis aimed to perform an analysis and make a design proposal for the environment surrounding the water tower. The analysis was performed using the methodology previously described by architect Arne Branzell. The methodology focuses on how a space is perceived by a person moving through it.

The Earths climate is changing at a higher rate, i.e between 1861 and 1994 the annual mean temperature in Scandinavia increased with 0,68º C and according to recent climate models the annual mean temperature is likely to rise with another 3º C during this century.A warmer climate in many ways is associated with changing conditions for lake ecosystems. An expected higher water temperature and a stronger summer stratification of the water column increases the risk of anoxic conditions at the lake bottom. Thus anoxic conditions are likely to cause a phosphate leakage from the sediment, i.e. a higher internal loading of phosphate.In this project, the extremely warm summer of 2002 has been used as an example for a possible scenario for a future climate. By comparing levels of phosphorus in the summer of 2002 with a ten-year median value, a phosphorus related sensitivity to climate change has been analyzed for 55 Swedish lakes.

Starting point to this Paper is the idea and wish to adapt the society and its different activities to a recycle society. A building area in Göteborg is planned and investigated for such adaptation. In the district named Skogaberg, about 130 households totally are planned from what 20 are blocks of flats. The idea with this project is to constitute an alternative sewage system, a Blackwater system, were the fractions of most nutrients and least pollution are separated, taken care of and utilised. The aim is to get a market and use the nutrients of the organic waste from the household in agriculture use.

This thesis compares different methods for risk assessment of a creosote contaminated site in Vansbro, Dalarna. In a complementary study the importance of using representative data for calibration and validation of stationary groundwater models is discussed. The time dependency between surface water levels and groundwater levels on the site in Vansbro is evaluated by step response analysis. The results show that the groundwater levels reflect only long-term variation in the surface water levels. Hence the use of such long-term means for calibration and validation of the stationary groundwater models is the only theoretically defendable alternative.As a first step in the comparison of risk assessment methods the degree of contamination is evaluated on the basis of generic guideline values for contaminated soils, developed by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Microwave is a time- efficient device for heating and reheating of foods. Despite the fact that its effects on foods have been evaluated during a long period of time, without any more negative effects shown compared to conventional cooking, one third of the Swedish population believes (in 2010) it accounts for a higher loss of nutrition. This literature review aim to compile studies regarding how food is affected by cooking in microwave, with respect to cooking losses, nutrition, secondary metabolites as well as sensory and textural aspects and compare it with conventional cooking. The compilation shows that different combination of effect (W), time and amount of water during microwave cooking have different effects on foods. The contents of proteins, vitamin B and carbohydrates are generally higher after microwave cooking, while anti-nutritional substances are affected much less during conventional cooking. This also depends on if it is of animal or non-animal origin. However, for the majority of nutrition values the differences are quite small.

An analysis of a specific application of anaerobic wastewater treatment at a pulp and board mill, Stora Enso Skoghall, was carried out. A literature study was done and effluent wastewater from CTMP pulp production was analyzed. The analysis consisted of a broad constituent analysis and an anaerobic treatment trial. Results from these test where used to calculate the treatment effectiveness and resulting energy potential at the mill.The literature study and constituent analysis showed that toxicity of the water to be treated, due to wood extractives and sulphur content, was of concern. Detoxification chemicals targeting these constituents where used in the anaerobic treatment trial.

Microwave is a time- efficient device for heating and reheating of foods. Despite the fact that its effects on foods have been evaluated during a long period of time, without any more negative effects shown compared to conventional cooking, one third of the Swedish population believes (in 2010) it accounts for a higher loss of nutrition. This literature review aim to compile studies regarding how food is affected by cooking in microwave, with respect to cooking losses, nutrition, secondary metabolites as well as sensory and textural aspects and compare it with conventional cooking. The compilation shows that different combination of effect (W), time and amount of water during microwave cooking have different effects on foods. The contents of proteins, vitamin B and carbohydrates are generally higher after microwave cooking, while anti-nutritional substances are affected much less during conventional cooking. This also depends on if it is of animal or non-animal origin. However, for the majority of nutrition values the differences are quite small.

Timber floating operations in Scandinavia during the 19th and 20th centuries has contributed to severe negative impacts on riverine ecosystems. Increase in water velocity and lack of stream bed heterogeneity as a result of stream channelization lead to increased bed load transport. Since availability and recruitment of new suitable spawning substrate in Scandinavian watercourses is sparse, spawning habitats for salmonids has become a scarce commodity. Lately, increasingly more attention has been given to the recreation and improvement of brown trout (Salmo trutta) spawning habitats in restoration projects. While much of the research on spawning habitat has been focused on evaluation of the influence that the constructed spawning grounds have on fish populations, few studies have been conducted to evaluate the persistence of these constructions over time. I evaluate erosion of constructed spawning beds as an effect of sediment transport attributable to water discharge.

It is important that the current urine separating systems are evaluated to allow improvements to be made and consequently increase their future propagation. In order to increase the knowledge about urine separating systems this study was made. It included, among other things, measurements of amounts of urine as well as of the composition of urine collected at Nytorgsgatan 4 in the city of Hallsberg. The study was increased after an inquiry that also included the district of Understenshöjden in the city of Stockholm. In the inquiry, the users were asked questions about odour, cleaning of toilets and occurrence of blockages in the urine water locks etc.

Our understanding is that responsibility is shifting from the community towards the individual within the field of social work. This resulted in our essay, which aims to study how the representatives within social service assistance and churches in Helsingborg work with personal power. Our aim is also to illustrate how these representatives view the boundaries of responsibility between the individual and the community. Our questions are: How do the representatives work with personal power from a micro and macro perspective? How do the representatives look upon their position as representatives? What do the representatives consider as responsibility of the individual respective the community? And; Are there preventing factors from individual responsibility? We obtained our empirical material from a qualitative method consisting of interviews.

This thesis aims to examine the viability of various techniques for increased electricity generation in CHP plants and the effect of electricity price fluctuations on the profitability.The techniques examined are fuel dryer, pellet production, methane production, combined methane- and pellet production, seasonal heating storages in caverns and pit heat storages and condensing tail. Using Excel and Matlab, the prerequisites for investment costs, revenues and expenses were calculated.What affects the price of electricity is a combination of economic and technological development, energy prices, economic structure, population changes and weather. Different scenarios for the electricity price were therefore examined. In the base case, the electricity price was given by the Nord Pool electricity price statistics of area three in 2011. Thereafter, WiMo was used to design the electricity scenarios for 2030, which was then applied to the data to obtain the viability of various scenarios. The techniques examined were found to give greater profits to the CHP plant by increasing and optimizing the production of electricity.

This is a literature study in which I investigate if there are scientific studies that form the basis of the Swedish dog world views concerning the spaying of bitches. The positive impacts are said to be reduced problems with pseudopregnancy, reduced risk of pyometra, reduced risk of mammary and uterine tumors, an earlier cease of bone growth, a more active and happier dog and a bitch who is more tolerant of other dogs. The negative consequences are said to be urinary incontinence, increased aggressiveness, lower metabolism and the increased risk of obesity, a more lethargic individual and altered coat.There are studies indicating that spaying reduces behavioral problems associated with heat and pseudopregnancy. Assuming no ovary tissue persists after the procedure, and there is no progesterone production, the risk of pyometra decreases. Early spaying, before the first heat, reduces the risk of mammary tumors.