Climate change is the modern society?s common issue. The developed countries areconsuming more than what is sustainable, and the climate change due to the use offossil fuels can be seen clearly. EU has specified goals, in order to stop furtherdamage, which demand that every member state have to reduce its energyconsumption by 20 % before 2020 and 50 % before 2050, relative to 1995.The Swedish government uses a number of instruments to encourage reduction in theusage of energy, but every individual has to contribute to reach the goals.With increasing energy price the cost of living is going up. A lot of people are lookingfor ways to save energy and not be affected as much by the increasing price.Investments for insulation, replacement of windows and replacing old heating systemfor a new efficient heat pump is getting more and more common.This thesis is about investigating the possibilities in becoming independent from buyingenergy for households.

In Sweden the residential and commercial sector is a major user of energy, why the Swedish government has set a specific goal to half the energy usage in buildings by 2050, compared to 1995. The Swedish Energy Agency has therefore started the campaign ?Halvera Mera? to encourage demonstration projects that will show how to renovate in an energy efficient way, and in doing so prove that it is possible to reduce a building?s energy usage by half and still make a profit. These projects are intended to serve as good examples and give inspiration to residential owners to perform energy efficient renovations. To make sure that these projects serve their purpose, it is important to know what will inspire and what will impede a residential owner to invest in energy efficiency improvements.

The European Council agreed in 2008 on a climate and energy package to combat global warming. This package is valid for each EU member country and means that greenhouse gas emissions must fall by at least 20% and the EU's energy use to 20%, consisting of Renewable Energy in 2020. The Swedish Government has set stringent climate and energy with the intention to set an example for the rest of Europe. For example, renewable energy sources account for at least 50% of energy use and our climate emissions to fall by 40% by 2020. A combination of these goals and a steadily rising oil price has led to an increased demand for wood fuel in the form of such branches and tops.

The purpose of this master thesis is to investigate different types of measures for making buildings more energy efficient and to estimate their profitability. The calculations were performed with the building simulation program VIP+ and the evaluation of the profitability with the life cycle cost method. Furthermore, it was examined how losses in the distribution of secondary systems of district heating can be avoided. Options to replace district heating with a local district heating system based on bio-energy have been investigated. The possibilities of achieving more efficient thermal energy consumption and production for the chosen estate were also examined.The object of the study has been a residential estate with 133 detached houses in Uppsala, built in 1974.

It is found that the properties of the record years of 1965-1975 is leaking a lot of energy andthese properties are facing a major energy efficiency. From the energy aspect, the facade isafflicted with poor thermal insulation which is a big problem. To address this problem addinginsulation is a good alternative to reduce overall energy consumption of a building. Thewindows on these buildings are also a problem from the energy point of view. Therefore,there are many reasons considered for energy upgrading.

Abstract   This degree project comprises 30 credits, i.e. 20 weeks of work. The work mainly deals with the energy balance for a multi-family house in Västerås and the requirements for energy conservation in the Swedish building code, BBR. Calculations of the energy balance are supplemented by a number of interviews. Energy conservation in general has become more important in recent years and the subject is in line with increased public awareness. This importance and attention is explained by environmental problems in general and global warming in particular, but also by rising energy prices.

The Swedish government has introduced a goal to reduce the energy intensity by 20% to the year 2020. To reach this goal actions need to be taken throughout the energy sector which includes residential and commercial buildings. This thesis considers the possibility to reduce the energy usage in a building located close to Uppsala. The analyzed building is a combined office, cafeteria and entrance and was completed about half a year before this project started. Therefore the measures presented for a more energy efficient building are presented as measures for future constructions.Simulations have been made in VIP-Energy, a dynamic energy calculation program.

Design of a house requires knowledge of both technology and economics. Heating and ventilation shall be designed, costs are calculated and estimated and requirements must be fulfilled. Which heating system is to be elected is also a difficult choice, especially with rising energy prices as a factor.The choice of energy system is not always given, because it depends on several factors. Below is a comparison between district heating, geothermal heat pump and electric boiler from an economic standpoint. In a previous report appears district heating and geothermal heat pump as the best options.

This study examines the use of building modeling and energy simulations in the design process  of  a  building.  The  take-off  point  is  the  notion  of  energy  simulations  being needed early and throughout the building design process, and that the lack of energy simulations may be explained by the fact that they are time consuming and therefore often too expensive. A greater interoperability between software tools used by relevant disciplines,  such  as  the  architect  and  the  energy  specialist,  would  create  smoother workflows, which would reduce this cost and open up for more frequent and iterative energy  simulation  processes.  The  study  is  an  assessment  of  the  modeling  tool  Revit and  the  simulation  tool  Virtual  Environment  and  whether  they  can  create  smoother workflows, and make leeway for a more frequent use of energy simulations throughout the  design  process.  It  also  investigates  the  limitations  of  what  can  be  examined  by simulations in Virtual Environment. This will hopefully help clarify the future role of energy  simulations  in  design  processes.  The  method  is  a  trial  by  error  approach  of testing the two software tools by building and simulating a model. The results of these tests  show  that  the  workflow  is  not  optimal  (and  therefore  time  consuming)  for frequent  and  iterative simulations  throughout the  design  process,  but  it  also  reveals some  great  possibilities  of  what  can  be  performed  with  these  two  powerful  tools  at hand.  Further  development  with  regards  on  platform  independency  of  the  building information  model,  including  seamless  exporting  and  importing,  seems  necessary  to strengthen the future role of energy simulations..

This thesis investigated the possibilities to resume cultivation of an old manor house built of timber and what this would mean from an energy and moisture perspective. The building in this case study is named Sofiedals mansion and was built in 1858 in Valbo 11 kilometers west of Gävle.The structure of the house was documented and used as a starting-point for carrying out calculations focused on energy and moisture aspects. With the help of a number of computer programs and a conducted air tightness test, the buildings energy consumption were calculated and compared with the current building regulations.In addition, the building was analyzed considering energy retrofitting and what it meant for moisture problems. The energy retrofitting consisted of additional insulation, decreasing the buildings permeability through air sealing; window and door replacements. When a building is equipped with natural ventilation it is difficult to know its precise performance and how an energy retrofitting affects it.

Problems with the current energy system, which partially relies on non-renewable fuels, are increasingly recognized. Emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels may speed up global warming, which in turn leads to a number of negative consequences. Nuclear energy is risky and relies on consumption of a scarce resource. This leads to a demand of renewable energy that is also economically feasible. One possible renewable source of energy is solar energy.

This thesis has been carried out on behalf of IV Produkt AB and intends to set an average ratio of thermal energy losses in apartment buildings that were built during the 1960-1990. This shall be derived by analyzing the total district energy consumption that has been divided into three parts: heat energy losses (the actual heating requirements), the heating of domestic hot water and heating energy consumption for the controlled ventilation.Three different residential areas that were built during the years 1962-1966 and one that was built in 1993 has been analyzed. All residential areas are located in Växjö urban and contains between four and six apartment buildings.The analyzed objects have a mechanical exhaust ventilation systems and district heating as the heating method. No own laboratory work or experiments have been done in this thesis, the calculations have been done on the basis of parameters from VEAB, interviews with property managers, and literature studies. By calculations, we have got a result that is reported in Chapter 6.

This report is of technical character and treats how to plan a small building in Borlänge, Sweden.The technical components that have been treated in the report are the construction, foundation,installations and thermic abilities of the house. In addition to planning this house the report alsocontains a part that deepens in net zero energy buildings. The purpose of the report is toinvestigate if the house in Borlänge can be constructed to meet net zero energy buildingdemands.Energy efficient houses such as passive- and net zero energy houses are showing more frequenton the market in Sweden. Ongoing climate changes and growing consciousness about theenvironment in society have contributed to that the environment is a well discussed topic. Toconsume small amounts of energy and at the same time produce local energy is thereforesomething that lies in the future and future houses.

Self-driving cars are soon to become a reality to the commercial market. A self-driving car does not have a human operator, which enables some interesting characteristics. The main benefits are considered to be:The number of accidents and traffic jams should be reduced.Enhanced comfort.Energy usage could be decreased while capacity could be increased.This study concerns the causes for improved energy efficiency. The reason for improved energy efficiency is mainly because of the variation in terms of acceleration, braking and distance holding are reduced. The vehicles are more intelligent and can work together as a unity.

Hungary?s share of renewable energy in 2010 was 7.9 %, and their renewable energy goal for 2020 is 14.65 %. Geothermal energy is one option that could help to achieve the goal, since Hungary has favorable bedrock, the temperature gradient is above average and thepermeability is high. Today Hungary is importing just over half of its primary energy supply. Because of political conflicts between nations Hungary wants to expand its own production of energy.