Titel                                    Indirect economic impacts of a national environment certification as financial business strategyAuthors                              Ida Antonsson, Emma Hellberg and Linn RingströmAdvisor                              Arne SöderbomCourse                               Bachelor thesis ? business administrationSeminar date                     2013-05-27Purpose                              The main aim of this study is to describe and analyze how private corporations use national environment certifications as a business strategy to gain power and financial benefits. By studying already certified corporation in Sweden, this study aims to understand, explore and develop already existing theoretical theories and concepts concerning ?national environment certifications?.Background                      All corporations have an impact on the environment. Therefor many corporations use a variety of worldwide certifications to be able to prove to ?others? that the corporation meets national- and international set goals.

This thesis evaluates the environmental performance of six different fish farming systems. The thesis is part of the network group ?Hållbar fiskförsörjning I Stockholms län? (HFFS) which tries to increase the domestic and regional production of fish in Stockholm and move to a more sustainable supply in the Stockholm county. Two of the chosen systems; pangasius from Vietnam and salmon from Norway are delivering a substantial part of the fish consumed in Stockholm today, although they are very different when it comes to system characteristics. One system, arctic char with conventional feed, is produced in a fairly small scale in the north of Sweden, while the three remaining systems are viewed upon as possible options to supply Stockholm with fish in the future.

The study aims to reduce energy consumption in apartment buildings where individual metering and charging of heat is applied. The aim is to develop planning and design for individual metering and charging in apartment buildings.The study is based on literature review, interviews and case study that include analysis of existing documents. Interviews were carried out with the property developer and the involved consultants who planned the apartment building Yasuragi. To investigate the differences the condominium association has noted in heat consumption between flats, the debit values of the heat were used to discern which houses that were furthest from the average consumption. On these flats there were temperature measurements and thermal photo shoots made for discriminating behavior and possible construction techniques which could be the explanation for the heat spread.Boverket shows that the consumption of heat can be reduced by 10-20% after insertion of individual metering and charging in an apartment block.

The environmental assessment system Miljöbyggnad is a Swedish system initiated by Bygga-Bo-Dialogen to assess buildings with regards to three main areas; ?Energy?, ?Indoor climate? and ?Materials?. A building can obtain three different classifications depending on how well it manages to meet the demands. GOLD is the highest classification and is followed by SILVER and BRONZE. The majority of the measures needed to comply with the demands are done during the design phase.

Local differentiation may occur during a short period of time and is part of the formation of new species. The isopod Asellus aquaticus is an example of a species in which local adaptation has occurred during a short period of time. An establishment of stonewort (Chara spp.) vegetation in Lake Tåkern (in the 2000) resulted in two different Asellus ecotypes; a lighter pigmented, smaller one that lives among stoneworts grazing periphytic algae, and a darker, larger ecotype that feeds on decaying leaves in reed (Phragmites australis vegetation. The purpose of this study was to examine whether there are differences in growth between ecotypes, depending on whether the food was periphytic algae or leaves, and to study the choice of substrates between the two food types. For the study, animals from both habitats were brought in from Lake Tåkern to the laboratory.

Abstrakt I den här uppsatsen undersöks hur ett narrativ kan drivas inom digitala spel enbart med hjälp av spelmiljön. Syftet är att få förståelse för vad miljöberättande behärskar som en självständig form av berättande och vad författarna kan göra för att uppnå detta mål. För att undersöka problemområdet genomfördes en spelproduktion där metoder framtagna under undersökningens gång applicerades. Produktionen testades av utomstående studenter i medieteknik och resultaten sammanställdes med reflektioner kring vad som uppnåtts och de metoder som applicerats. Undersökningen beskriver arbetsprocessen och metoder och visar hur dessa kan driva ett narrativ med en spelmiljö.

The Swedish commercial real estate market is in the current situation globally affected and is actively interacting with the rental and capital markets through international tenants and investors who are setting new demands on the property owners. The European Union has set new requirements as well in purpose of reducing humanity?s negative effect on the climate and therefore the international real estate market has introduced Green Building-certificates in order to decrease the real estate industry?s environmental impact.Certificated buildings with low energy consumption are a more common sight in Sweden these days. The development, however, could go even faster if there was not certain difficulties between property owners and tenants. Previous research has revealed that tenants do not always have knowledge about, or may have access to the economic benefits that a green building can provide.

Larvae of Lepidopteran Manduca sexta and Spodoptera littoralis are pests of economical importance in several horticultural and agricultural crops. Knowledge of insect feeding preferences and behavior is crucial in order to find economically and ecologically sustainable solutions to the problems caused by these herbivores. The aim of this thesis was to study the behavior and the induced feeding preferences in larvae of M. sexta and S. littoralis when reared on certain host plants. The hypothesis was that larvae of M. sexta would have an innate preference for plants of the Solanaceae family and therefore discriminate the previously experienced nonhost when faced with the choice between a true host and the previous food source.

The study begins with a historical background over the fisheries development in North America and in the Baltic Sea area in Finland and Sweden. As we can see the fisheries development depends on the interaction between ecology, state of production, politic and also social factors. In Sweden the fishery politic has changed over the period of the study. In the 1970: s the main politic focus was on the fisheries progress, expansion and rationalization. The State in Sweden took a vast part in this development and gave economic support.

CEEQUAL är ett klassningssystem utvecklad av ICE, den brittiska Institutionen för Civilingenjörer, för att bättra på anläggningsbranschens sociala, ekonomiska och miljömässiga hållbarhetsarbete. Systemet utvecklades år 2003 och användes fram till år 2011 endast i Storbritannien och Irland. År 2011 utvecklades en internationell version för organisationer som är intresserade av att certifiera projekt i andra delar av världen.Syftet med rapporten är att utvärdera konsekvenser för ett projekt som skall miljöcertifieras. Detta sker med hjälp av tre fallstudier från Skanska Sverige AB:Projekt Skarplöt, exploatering av en åkermark i Västerhaninge.Projekt Folkparksvägen, ombyggnation av en 1500 meter vägsträcka.Projekt Tyresövägen-Simvägen, en avsmalning av Tyresövägen från  motorvägsstandard till stadsväg.          Målet med rapporten är att:Identifiera förbättringsåtgärder för att främja hållbarhet och resurseffektivitet i produktion.Uppskatta vilka resurser förbättringsåtgärderna för certifiering kräver.Resultat från fallstudierna visar att Skanska har väl inarbetade rutiner i företagets ledningssystem, dock finns det förbättringspotential som kan uppnås med integrering av CEEQUALs krav i dagens arbetssätt.Merkostnaden av förbättringsåtgärderna består mestadels av tjänstemannatid för ett utökat samhällsengagemang, planering och bevakning av åtgärder som främjar hållbarhet samt insamling av bevismaterial för certifiering.

The aim with the present study was to investigate whether there is a difference between the course participants who find their way to the dog-school respective the Swedish Working Dog Association. The study have focused on four issues; why the course participants have chosen the dog-school respectively the Swedish Working Dog Association, why the participants bought their dog, if the participants are satisfied with their dogs and if it is more likely that they turn to the dog-school?s than to the Swedish Working Dog Association with their first dog? Course participants from two dog-schools and from two of the local clubs belonging to the Swedish Working Dog Association in Skaraborg, Sweden, answered a questionnaire. In total 85 answers were collected, including 60 from the course participants from Swedish Working Dog Associations and 25 from the dog school?s course.

This report is focusing upon relining from a client?s point of view. Potential buyers are given a presentation of the different methods available today together with a general briefing describing the process. An important part of this report are the interviews that took place with already established customers. Property owners, managers, pipe cleaners, and project managers whom all been in contact with relining have answered the questions given along with their own thoughts and have also given recommendations of other persons to talk to.

This essay deals with the various difficulties that can arise in conversations and meetings with parents and colleagues in the preschool world. The essay is based on two self-perceived stories that culminate in dilemmas that are difficult to assess, where our own actions come into question.The purpose of this essay is to gain a greater understanding and awareness of why we become insecure when our communication with others fails. Our research questions assist us in gaining an understanding that our own and others' behavior in meetings and conversations can be influenced by past experience, ourvalues and our emotions. This means, for example, that we must be aware that our values - ideal images, functions as both our guide and trip wires. We must also bear in mind that our ability to manage our own emotional reactions is  significant when it comes to facing our own and others' feelings.

Young people of today have a much wider access to information on sex and relationships, and they receive this information from a variety of different sources. This information can sometimes paint a diverse and inconsistent picture. School constitutes one of these sources, and one of the few places were young people can discuss and reflect on these issues together with their peers as well as adults. The purpose of this essay is to gain insight on what adolescents between the age of 15 to 18 think about sex and relationships and their thoughts about sex education in school. It?s a qualitative study based on discussions with adolescents divided in four focus groups, two groups of girls and two groups of boys.

The purpose of this report was to investigate how the Umeå School of Business and Economics at Umeå university can work to increase the share of courses and programmes that discuss sustainable development. Furthermore the purpose was to develop an action plan that can be used to increase that share. Methods used were a questionnaire directed towards the educators at the Umeå School of Business and Economics and an assessment of the content of courses and programmes connected to the Umeå School of Business and Economics. There was no clear structured way of working with education for sustainable development, but at the same time there was a will to integrate sustainable development in the education. Curricula were according to the educators an important tool to achieve this integration, their experience were that there are not enough time, people and money to work with sustainable development in the education and they would like to see more clear directions from the management.