This thesis tries to clarify why more houses such as passive houses is not built and at the same time the differences is described with the conventional construction as a starting point. Sweden has set environmental objectives to reduce energy consumption in buildings by 50 percent by the year 2050 compared to 1995. The passivehouse concept could have a significant role, particularly in the reconstruction of buildings with high energy consumption. For sustainable building the passivehouse technology is an economically viable concept while benefiting the environment. Initially an introduction is given of the background to the problem, purpose and objective of the thesis.

This master thesis in energy optimization was made during the autumn of 2006 at Käppala wastewater treatment plant in Lidingö, Stockholm. A preceding thesis, where all Electricity consumption was mapped, showed that the aeration in the biological treatment is the single largest consumer in the plant, and it is therefore of interest to reduce this cost. The oxygen control strategy used at Käppala WWTP is working well from a nutrient removal point of view, but not from an economic one. The last aerobic zones have a very low oxygen consumption during low loading periods which give rise to enhanced dissolved oxygen concentrations with excessive costs and reduced denitrification as a result. But also during periods of normal loading unnecessary high oxygen concentration are sometimes given.By modifying the aeration control strategy three full-scale experiments have been made, with the intention to reduce the air consumption.

The purpose of this study was to investigate to what extent  young adults use media to create the image of themselves. The questions we wanted to answer was as follows: what does the media use of young adults look like compared to their attitudes towards media content; what awareness do they have of other young adults attitudes concerning media content; and finally, how do these attitudes affect their own media use?Media consumption is a great part of  the daily lives of young adults living in Sweden: the national  average media consumption is seven hours a day, for 15-24 year olds. This provides a new way for young adults to express their identity - by showing their use of different media content, they can change other's perception of themselves.The method we used in our study was a combination between a quantitative and a qualitative method. We first made a survey in three classes with senior year high school-students, in a Swedish school.

This rapport contains an examination of the energy consumption of a kindergarten, which areas that have the largest impact on the energy consumption and what can be done to reduce those areas in ways that are relatively easy and profitable. It is also analyzed if it is possible to reduce the energy consumption from today?s consumption to a consumption that fulfils the demands placed on low energy houses by FEBY.The focus has been on reducing the energy consumption of the areas ventilation, heating system and hot water system, since those seemed to be the easiest ones to affect and since the building is quite recently built.There are different kinds of ventilation systems, at the moment the building have a CAV-system, which means that the ventilation is too high during large parts of the day. There are different ways to manage the ventilation system, for example presence detection, humidity sensors, CO2 sensors, temperature sensors and season adjustment. Many of those are in the end dependent on CO2 sensors to guarantee a good indoor climate, therefore the focus have been placed on this system.

With new energy directives in place, the Swedish Social Service (SSS) stands beforethe challenge how to reduce the energy demand in its locales. It is a complex matter,as the locales are rented from various property owners and it becomes a question ofhow to reduce the operational electricity and influence the property owners to workmore with energy efficiency. This thesis takes a balanced research approach in threeparts. Firstly a qualitative part in form of interviews with personnel at the SSS and itsproperty owners, secondly a quantitative part of descriptive nature in form of energystatistics and thirdly a literature review of Energy Management (EM) Supply ChainManagement(SCM), Green Supply Chain Management(GSCM) and EnviromentalPerformance Indicators (EPI). This in order to be able to give normativerecommendations of how the SSS should act to reduce its energy consumption in itslocales and provide new insights on how EM, SCM, GSCM and EPI can be applied ineffect.

Australia is one of the largest producers and consumers of fossil fuels in the world. In a society where the effects of fossil fuels on global warming are constantly discussed, the nation?s production and consumption are subject to debate. Problems arise when negative aspects of consumption, such as emissions of greenhouse gases, are put in relation to an increased need of energy and economic growth. However, it is important to distinguish between different types of fossil fuels when it comes to their individual impact on the environment and to analyze the possibilities to increase the more environmental friendly ones.

The industrial sector accounts for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce its negative impact on the environment is crucial in the quest for a sustainable future. In discussions of the industrial sector's impact on the environment guidelines have been highlighted as a tool to assist the industries in their efforts to change the relationship between the consumption of energy and production. This by improving energy efficiency and a shift to the best available technology. During the past 30 years the steel industry has reduced its energy consumption per ton of steel produced by 50 percent.

The aim with this thesis was to acquire an understanding for how individuals handle the feeling of shame in connection with cultural consumption. In order to capture the feeling of shame we developed an interview method called the Backstabber interview technique. We found that the Backstabber interview technique successfully triggered feelings of shame in connection to cultural consumption, which made it possible for us to study the handling of shame. We found that our respondents tended to use different forms of accounts in order to handle the feeling of shame. We categorized them into five accounts with relating sub-accounts.

In this thesis proposals for different designs of a borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) have been developed for the building DN-huset in Stockholm, Sweden. To build a BTES results in savings in energy costs by approximately 44 %, i.e. 2 million Swedish crowns annually. Furthermore, a BTES would reduce the annual environmental impact with roughly 75-157 tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year, depending on how the Electricity consumption?s environmental impact is estimated.

This paper investigates the relations between the fantasy genre and the phenomena of escapism. It also delves into the factors which motivates consumption of various fantasy mediums. This is done through interviews with six different fantasy-consumers, along with two observations; of which one is performed at a science fiction convention and the other at a table-top role playing game. The study resulted in a basic understanding of escapism ? it is not limited to the fantasy genre, and fantasy consumers do not deny that fantasy is a form of escapism.

This report contains a study of replacing nuclear power with biofuel. The nuclear plant, OKG north of Oskarshamn in Sweden has been chosen and an extensive literature study about the nuclear plant has been implemented. The main aspect of this report is the availability of biofuels and whether it would be economically sustainable. Sweden?s most common biofuels are examined with regard to scope of use and potential.

The development of solar photovoltaic (PV) is increasing,with declining module prices and with a strongenvironmental profile. Policies are developed around theworld to achieve the targets set for renewable energy.In Helsingborg, the local power company Öresundskraft isworking with solar PV to achieve the goals of the city.With their vision: - Energy for a Better World and Powerfor the Region, their work with developing the local solarPV market is continuing and the next step is to create asolar PV policy. Today their offer is 1 SEK/kWh for theexcess electricity delivered to the grid.It turns out that compensating the customer is a vitalpolicy and it has to be dynamic to follow the decisions ofpolitics. The same survey shows indeed, thatenvironmental and technical part is of interest. Solar PVwill be supported locally to act on environmentalsustainability and locally produced electricity and withthis Öresundskrafts vision will be achieved..

Energy is today a very common topic, not only in Sweden but in the whole Europe. In EU they have given out a directive 2002/91/EG about buildings energy use and throw this they have forced their members to show how much energy their buildings use. In Sweden has the gouvernment established a law (SFS 2006:985) about energy declaration for buildings which demands that the building owner needs to show how much their buildings energy consumption are. Important to know is that this law doesn´t applies for industrial buildings.The report will show what the new law about energy declaration for buildings and appurtenant directions will mean for Riksbyggen. Also energy calculations will be done to be able to compare Riksbyggen buildings with the new law and directions.

Energy efficiency is important both to reduce costs and to reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. In Sweden 40 percent of the energy consumption is related to the buildings sector. Hospitals are complex buildings with different activities in the same building, which requires flexible technical systems for ventilation, heating and lightning. A quarter of the total energy consumption in Swedish hospitals is related to user activities in the hospitals. Therefore it is not only important to work with operational optimization but also to change user activities, to reduce energy consumption.The objective of this thesis was to examine the user-related energy efficiency work at two care units, at the central hospital in Sundsvall within Västernorrlands County.

The energy consumption continues to increase as the use of electronics and energy consuming equipment increases. The use of fossil fuels has to be phased out for this to be sustainable in the long run while the use of renewable energy continues to increase. A renewable energy source is solar energy but the production of heat and electricity are today very expensive compared to other energy sources and an important task for the solar energy market to grow is therefore to minimize the production cost of the solar collectors while increasing its efficiency to produce heat and/or electricity. One way to convert solar energy into heat is by using solar collectors and electricity can be produced by utilizing the produced heat, or by applying solar cells.This thesis aims to recommend a reflective material for the next generation solar collectors from Absolicon and to recommend a commercially available coating for the receiver tube of the solar collector. A market study has been carried out to investigate the cost-related aspects along with the optical and durable aspects for the optical material of the solar collector.