With higher prices for oil and increased focus on fossil fuels impact on the environment the heating sector are searching for alternative fuels. Pellets are a quite new product whose production has risen exponential in recent years. Today there are small-, medium-and large-scale users, where the large-scale consumers are the heating sector. The heating sector is mainly using oil to cover the increased demand during cold periods. The purpose of this study is to analyze the potential of pellets if it would replace thermal power plants oil and coal. The study will also analyze the economic impact a conversion would mean for a heating plant and if the pellet is a reasonable substitute. 2008 statistics from the Swedish district heating association were analyzed and a calculation was performed to determine how many tons of pellets is needed to replace coal and oil.

The purpose of this thesis is to shed light on a present trend of professionalization in Swedish local environmental politics, which have recently seen a decline in active participation of the citizens in favor of an increased governmental regulation. With the aim to closer investigate this relatively new phenomenon, the paper is a qualitative single case-study of environmental policies in the Swedish municipality of Karlskrona. In this case, the municipality is obviously balancing between regarding the interests of the national level and the interests of its own citizens at the same time. This motivates the use of system-theory, and relates to the classical political paradox between participation and efficiency which is also a present theme in the paper.This text-analysis based on interviews with personnel and documents from the municipality shows a visible trend of professionalization in the local politics of the municipality of Karlskrona, from a large grade of participation and a strong bottom-up approach in the days of Agenda 21 to now being more strongly top-down defined by national environmental objectives and principally operated on a professional level..

The ferry traffic to Gotland is essential for the island?s ability to live and develop. Yearly, it transports 1,6 million passengers, 500 000 personal vehicles and 750 000 lane meters of freight with four Ro-Pax ferries. The traffic is controlled and subsidized by the Swedish government since 1971 in order to guarantee the inhabitants and industry of Gotland a satisfactory transportation service. As a consequence of the past decades increased traffic quality, mainly due to a decrease in crossing times, the traffic?s Environmental impact and costs has also increased.The Master Thesis proposes a new energy efficient traffic arrangement that satisfies the users? preferences in the same extent as today.

According to the theory of environmental Kuznets curve there is a relationship between carbon emissions and GDP. The relationship has an inverted U-shape. Carbon emissions rise initially and then decreases once a certain level of GDP is obtained.This essay interprets earlier studies in the field of environmental economics and uses public choice to seek answer on how the population acts on aggregate level. This essay analyses 115 countries in cross-sectional data. The analysis shows that there is a significant relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and GDP that is increasing at first and then decreases for a certain level of GDP.

Textiles are made in an unsustainable way and there is a need to find alternative ways and material to reduce the negative impacts on the environment, humans and animals. Problems like pollution, excessive water consumption and loss of soil fertility is a result of this lack of diversity. It is a necessity to find innovative alternatives in other fabrics due to the unsustainable use of cotton and polyester fibers. As in many other countries in the Western part of the world, in Sweden there is a rapid turnover and increased selling of clothes that result in increased textile waste. About 15 kilogram of textiles (net inflow) is consumed per person each year.

Abstract Considering the social dimension of sustainable development this thesis focuses on the qualities of life and how the environmental qualities that the inhabitants value can be incorporated in the physical planning of the municipality. The thesis deals with the problems that occur when the physical planning, whit its focus on the environmental aspects, also needs to consider peoples opinions, that springs from the individual experience of the place. The municipality of Mark, where this thesis takes its place, is characterised by the countryside landscape. Mark is situated in the western part of Sweden close to Göteborg, Borås and Varberg. The commuting is extensive and the demand for dwellings in the municipality is increasing. Those who strive to live in the municipality have a conception of what life on the countryside means and of which environmental qualities they want to assimilate.

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.

As consumers we want to know from whom we buy, what we buy and the impact the company has on our planet. In recent years there been an increasing number of scandals concerning child labour, dangerous chemicals and falsely labelled meat. A good way for companies to communicate their environmental efforts is to establish a sustainability report, where they describe their work and their impact on our environment. By concentrating on H&M?s sustainability report, as well as conducting a rhetorical analysis, we have been able to focus on the following research questions:  ? Why do companies establish CSR reports? ? How do companies gain legitimacy through their rhetorical choices? ? How do companies try to influence recipients? attitudes to the company? We begin by studying the context, which is of importance when using a rhetorical method and thereby attempt to understand in what situation the text is created.

The Swedish industrial society has left several areas with contaminated soil and water which today is of danger for the environment and human health. One of these areas with contaminated soil and water is the region where the former Glava glassworks operated during 1859 to 1939. The main object in this study has been to study the responsibility for the contaminations according to the Environmental Code. The method used is a qualitative content analysis of relevant literature to answer the following questions:What types of contaminations can be found in the area of Glava glasswork and what health issues can these cause?What kind of activity has been conducted in the area that have caused the contaminations in soil and water?According to law, what are the responsibilities for the contaminations in soil and water at Glava glassworks?The contamination in the region has been confirmed to originate from the glasswork due to the environmental engineering survey made in the area in 2009.

Background: In a world that are becoming more and more aware of the climate changes that occur as a consequence of the increasing emissions around the world companies? experience that the opinion blame the internal processors for this. Many companies feel forced to align their strategies to the environmental goals set by the community. Some of the emissions the companies? operations can be linked to business trips and it is therefore interesting to see how these can be reduced by using different performance measures.

Biogas is a renewable fuel that can be extracted from anaerobic digestion of many differentsubstrates, for example biological household waste. An alternative handling of the waste is tomix it with other wastes and incinerate it in a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. Thisstudy uses life cycle assessment to investigate which type of waste handling that is betterfrom an environmental point of view, anaerobic digestion with biogas production orincineration. The results are based on a case study of a biogas production plant owned by thecompany Ragn-Sells in Vänersborg. The alternative is incineration at a CHP plant inGothenburg.

AbstractPolitical Science, level III thesisSpring semester 2010Author: Emelie AlfredssonSupervisor: Tomas Mitander"A Changed Leadership? - A study of the EU leadership from a institutional standpoint, related to multilateral environmental negotiations"The EU has for a relatively long time considered itself a leader in the environmental policy area as a whole as well as in multilateral environmental negotiations. This study attempts to classify and identify the European leadership with the purpose of relating it to the institutional framework of the Union. The treaties of the European Union decide its ability to act and its institutions the right to engage in different policy areas, the environmental area being the focus of this study. With the recent ratification of the Lisbon treaty this study aims to make out if the type of leadership the Union showed during the Kyoto negotiations has changed with the new treaty, into a new type during the COP-15 meeting in Copenhagen.

Textilindustrin står inför stora utmaningar när det kommer till forskning, utveckling ochproduktion på ett miljöanpassat och socialt ansvarsfullt sätt. Ökat miljömedvetetande hoskonsumenten har lett till ökat intresse och möjlighet för företaget att arbeta mot ett hållbartföretagande.Examensarbetet är skrivet som en del av kandidatexamen i textilingenjörsprogrammet föruppdragsföretaget BlåKläder AB och utfördes för att även kunna fungera som ett underlag förandra företag i avsikt med att påbörja/utveckla sitt arbete med socialt ansvarstagande.I arbetet presenteras miljöpåverkan av en arbetsbyxa i bomull från råväv till distribuering.Fyra miljöbelastande kategorier har tagits med i undersökningen, där mängden av kemikalie,vatten- och energiåtgång samt koldioxidutsläpp räknades ut per arbetsbyxa av minimumorder. Sammanställning av resultat visar att det används 2,5 kg kemikalier, 10,3 liter vatten,756 Wh energi och det släpps ut 0,4 kg kodoxid vid tillverkning av en arbetsbyxa.Rapporten behandlar och beskriver produktion av en rå bomullsväv medflamskyddsbehandling. Processflödet för hela behandlingsförloppet analyseras i arbetet därbåde kemikalier, energi- och vattenåtgång tas upp vid varje delprocess. Koldioxidutsläppanalyseras som en särskild del av rapporten och omfattar de direkta utsläppen av tung lastbiloch fraktfärja.

Detta arbete ger en insyn i hur en miljöutredning kan genomföras på ett mindre företag, som inte tidigare aktivt har arbetat med miljöfrågor. Arbetet identifierar behovet av att en grundlig miljöutredning och uppföljning görs, samt åskådliggör de olika delmoment och metoder som kan appliceras på utförandet. Arbetet innefattar också ett exempel på en genomförd miljöutredning och utbildningsdag..

NCC ROADS Sweden east is a part of the NCC Corporation. The company mainly produces aggregates, asphalt and concrete. They have taken the environmental issues seriously and been working with that since the middle of the nineties. When manufacturing asphalt large a quantity of fossil energy is needed. The company is now about to make further progresses by manufacturing environmental friendly asphalt (?green asphalt?) with using bio-energy.