There's no doubt today that mankind has contributed to the changing climate byher use of fossil fuels. This must change in the nearby future. The Europeanleaders are expressing concern that renewable energy sources are not beingused to their full potential. The 2001/77/EC Directive on Electricity Productionfrom Renewable Energy Sources was accepted in 2001 to encourage thedevelopment of energy production from renewable sources, which isconsidered a step towards the fulfillment of the goal of the Union, that 12% ofthe gross energy consumption should come from renewable energy sources bythe year 2010.The objective of this thesis is to illuminate the common legislation of the EUregarding renewable energy with regard to goal fulfillment, judicial quality,conflicts with other goals of the EU and other faults. The objective is reachedby a hermeneutic study in which interpretation of written text is the mainmethod.

Due to global climate change and the rising levels of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere, the interest for seeking solutions for mitigation has increased. While much attention has been directed towards technical solutions such as carbon capture and storage (CCS), biogenic carbon sinks has also garnered significant attention. Previous studies have shown that coastal ecosystems such as seagrass meadows and mangroves have a much greater capacity for storing carbon (C) compared to terrestrial ecosystems. That raises the question if other coastal ecosystems, such as coastal wetland forests, that previously haven?t been considered as blue carbon habitats also contribute to coastal carbon sink capacity.

To curb greenhouse gases and mitigate climate change is one of the biggest challenges human society face today. Carbon dioxide (CO2) has accumulated rapidly in the atmosphere as a consequence of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. The aim of this study is to explore two methods to store carbon dioxide in geological formations and biological sinks. The aim is also to discuss the two mitigation options from a sustainable perspective and whether it can lead to a better environment and benefits for local and global societies. The research questions are: Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, is the most effective? Which method to store carbon dioxide, geological or biological, has the greatest potential to promote sustainable development for local communities?The method used is a comparative case study and presents four case studies that explore the potential for CO2 storage offshore in Norway and Brazil; and in tropical forests in Mexico and Brazil.

More frequent and intensified rainfalls are expected to occur due to climate change in the nearfuture. This together with a higher proportion of paved areas increases the pressure on today?sstorm water systems (Risinger, 2014; Boverket, 2013; Stahre, 2006). Traditional storm watersystems (i.e. underground pipe systems) have during last decades started to be questioned(Olshammar & Baresel, 2012).

This thesis was done after a request from the county?s administrative board of Västmanland to provide the board with a better understanding of how green areas have changed within Västerås municipality over time.The purpose and goal of this study was thus to measure and analyze how much of the green areas within Västerås municipality that have disappeared during the past one hundred years as well as to provide a review of previous studies regarding the importance of green areas for humans as well as the biological diversity.In order to answer these questions I have in this study used a combination of a literature study, cartographic analysis as well as a time series analysis. The computer software used to do the measurements of the green areas was ArcGIS which is a geographical information system.In the cartographic and times series anlaysis measurements and analysis was made of the district map of 1911, the economic map of 1950 and the property map of 2011. The measurements show that the municipality has grown with 46,3 km2 over the last one hundred years. New neighborhoods? have emerged and the municipality has expanded.

A possible "discursive turn" is believed to have been observed within Swedish political science in later years. The purpose of this study is to examine whether or not such a turn has actually taken place, in order to further determine if a resulting theoretical homogeneity poses a risk to the ability of Swedish political science to identify and respond to its full width of possible research problems, and to determine its perspectives on both these problems and the results that are later communicated to the general society. To do so, the study poses the following primary research question:"Has a discursive turn occurred within Swedish political science?"This question is then broken down into two specified research questions."Has discourse analysis become a more common approach for doctoral dissertations in political science during the period of 2000-2013?""Have ideas corresponding with discourse theory become more common within doctoral dissertations in political science that are not pure discourse analyses during the period of 2000-2013?"These questions are then answered by examining all known 406 doctoral dissertations in political science published in Sweden during the 21st century up until (and including) the year of 2013, using two forms of content analysis, one manual and one computer-assisted. The study finds no clear evidence of a discursive turn in Swedish political science since the turn of the century.

One of Sweden?s sixteen national environmental objectives strives to decrease the impact on the climate. By 2020, green house gas emissions should be 40 % less compared to the levels of 1990 and a minimum of 50 % of the energy consumption should come from renewable energy sources. Because of this there is a great need of increasing the production of renewable energy. This is where biogas comes in as a competitive alternative.

Today's society is facing major challenges. In order to reduce the climate impact fossil fuels should be replaced with fuels that do not contribute to the greenhouse effect. The growing population generates organic waste originating from industry and households so called organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). Through anaerobic digestion, waste can be utilized to produce energy-rich methane gas. In this way, waste can be a resource instead of a burden on society.

ur society is today in a phase of development in environmental and sustainable thinking. Alarming reports show changes in climate caused by our load and exhaust of resources. The energy usage contributes to a big part of it, by its emission of carbon dioxide. The built environment uses around 40 % of the total energy consumption in Sweden and requests to strongly reduce it are presented from both EU and national level.This thesis brings up the subject of green building with a focus on how we can create more energy efficient buildings in projects of new construction. Since the construction industry today often fails to pass on the knowledge between different projects, as a return of experiences, the construction company Skanska suggested the topic for this thesis.

Media has power and impact. It is therefore important for managers to be able to handle media storms when they arise. If not, the brand can be affected negatively. It is managers who should learn to handle media storms because the managers constitute an important part of the external face of the company. Because it is managers who should learn to handle media storms it is interesting to study how media storms should be handled from a theoretical management-perspective.

År 2013 införde Arbetsmiljöverket ett nytt webbaserat enkätverktyg som skall kunna ge ett mått av säkerhetskulturen hos företag och organisationer. Denna enkät baserades på tidigare forskning som tog fram en enkät, NOSACQ-50, för just detta ändamål. Värt att notera är att Arbetsmiljöverkets version är förkortad där vissa påståenden togs bort och vissa skrevs om. Det är detta som analysen behandlar. Hur påverkas resultaten av dessa förändringar som genomfördes av Arbetsmiljöverket? Analysen undersöker den möjliga felmarginalen på två olika sätt.

På senare år har en ny trend inom miljöarbetet uppstått. Istället för att bara vara miljövänliga tar vissa företag och organisationer det hela ett steg längre och klimatkompenserar för de utsläpp de har. Företag som klimatkompenserar hävdar att de gör allt de kan för att först och främst minska de direkta utsläpp som de förorsakar. Som en sista åtgärd, för att ytterligare minska företagets påverkan på miljön, kompenserar företagen för sina utsläpp genom att delta i något miljöfrämjande projekt. De bakomliggande motiven till att klimatkompensera är främst ett starkt miljöengagemang inom företaget sedan tidigare.

Abstract The extraction and usage of energy give rise to immense environmental problems which helps to accelerate climate change. Energy is an important resource for the community and there are a variety of different types of energy sources available, that are either classified as renewable or non-renewable energy sources. The usage of renewable energy sources cause less environmental impact than the usage of non-renewable energy, which in turn means that the energy?s strain on the environment is strongly affected by the type of energy source used.The aim of the study is to describe to what extent attitudes towards renewable energy are affected by whether the individual is male or female, by examining the hypothesis regarding how women have a closer connection to nature and to a larger extent shows on an pro-environmentally friendly behavior than men, and if it also can be detected on issues related to renewable energy and thus imply that women have a friendlier approach towards renewable energy than men. A number of ecofeminist believe that women have a stronger bond with the nature through her embodiment as a woman and by her maternal role, which according to previous research also leads to the fact that women shows on a more extensive environmental behavior.Through a qualitative research method in the form of semi-structured interviews has three female and three male respondents been asked questions with regards to the environment, individual responsibility and energy.

Being an architect I create spaces with roof, walls and fl oor. The availability of the essential materials to create such spaces is practically unlimited. The materials also play a significant part to the character of the created space. I hope to contribute to the general understanding of materials as elements in the design of urban spaces by having intensely explored one specific material in depth, pointing out its bad and good qualities. I am of the opinion that the reason for choosing a material shouldn?t be because of a shortage of knowledge, facts or references, but what character you want for the room. When travelling across Europe, it sometimes feels like clay paving is everywhere, but back in Sweden it is almost unseen of in modern landscape architecture.

Outdoor recreation habits in metropolis and rural areasThis study aims to examine the perception of nature and outdoor recreation habits from an urban-rural prospective. The urbanization process continues in Sweden and the populations of the cities are growing continuously. Trends to build more compact and ?climate smart? reigns and with this a risk that green areas and areas where outdoor recreation can be practiced are situated further and further away from the urban population. Analyzing the responses from a survey made by the research program Friluftsliv i förändring 2007 we have examined if and which differences exists between urban and rural areas regarding their perception of nature, outdoor recreation habits and factors influencing the practice of outdoor recreation.