Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen iKulturvård, Landskapsvårdens hantverk, 15 hp, 2013.

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.

The aim of this study is to find information about what to do when riding arena footings are worn-out. Especially, the surface layer of riding arena footings is very interesting because of its importance of giving grip in every step for the horse, as well as shock ab-sorption. Generally, surface layers are containing several different parts in order to achieve desirable properties. These different parts can consist of organic material or in-organic material (mostly gravel). Gravel and many other materials in the top-layer are environmental friendly, and therefore, easy to get rid of.

In the growing concern for the state of the environment more tools are being integrated in the decision-making processes. Sweden actively makes use of environmental impact assessment (EIA), which is supposed to minimise negative impacts of a project, policy or plans on the environment. The EIA process in Sweden still requires certain improvements to be more efficient. In this study actor interaction was analysed with trust being the framework for analysis. The aim is to find out whether it is possible to use trust as a framework for analysis since trust research is very discipline dependent.

In 1996, the Swedish government deregulated the Swedish electricity market. As a consequence of the deregulation, Swedish customers could start to freely choose between different electricity companies. Different enterprises have tried various strategies in order to shape their image to attract new customers; often focusing on an image revolving around price and environmental friendliness.The purpose of this essay has been to analyze customers? relations to the electricity market. In order to analyze customers? relations a quantitative study has been conducted; focusing on customer satisfaction and customer commitment.

New dwellings and commercial buildings in coastal regions has for some time now been a focal point. Old industrial harbours are regenerated into modern living areas with a recreational purpose. In Sweden the marina has not taken part in this development, thus remained in the monotony and large-scale structures of modernism. This graduation thesis looks upon the marina from a landscape architects point of view, where the marina foremost is a social venue. By revealing and discussing the development of the marina, its design and environmental consequence theories of the marinas future is presented. These theories are later tested upon the costal village of Rydebäck, south of Helsingborg. The thesis is structured in three parts: marina knowledge, proposal and resources. In the first part the historical development of the marina from prehistory time to now is discussed.

Wastewater treatment is increasingly controlled by the Swedish environmental quality objectives, adopted by the Swedish parliament. There is a need for a sewage system that can fulfill stringent requirements concerning the environment, recycling and resource use and hygiene. Additional environmental aspects in recent years are the impact of climate change, new knowledge about the effects of pharmaceuticals in water, the need for improved wastewater treatment and increased recycling of nutrients to agriculture. This report has, from a future scenario of the year 2050, analyzed seven different systems for wastewater treatment and treatment of compostable biowaste from households in Eskilstuna. A future scenario was chosen based on that within a forty year period new challenges may arise which can result in higher demands on sewage treatment than those we see today. Another reason why the future scenario was established is that changes in wastewater treatment systems are slow to establish. The analysis is mainly focused on the economical aspects but environmental aspects such as emissions to receiving waters and potential recycling of plant nutrients has also been evaluated briefly.

Biodiversity consists of all life on Earth and in all forms. Biodiversity is often discussed at three levels: ecosystem, species and genetic variation within species. Biodiversity also provides many of the ecosystem services performed by nature and that we depend on, including cultural services such as aesthetic values, education and recreation. In Sweden the environmental objectives are central; there are 16 environmental quality objectives, and "A rich plant and animal life" is one of them. Conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity is a prerequisite for achieving also most other environmental objectives. Another environmental quality objective that is tied to a rich biodiversity in cities and biodiversity is "Good built environment" where cities, towns and other built environment should provide a good living habitat and contribute to a good environment.

AbstractIn the fall of 2003 a project was started in the Swedish building sector that is called BASTA (the building sectors’ termination of especially harmful substances). The project is operated by the building companies NCC, Skanska, PEAB and JM, the Swedish Building Industry and the Swedish Environmental Institute IVL. The purpose of the project is to create a common environmental assessment system for the entire building industry and with the help of this system phase out the use of especially harmful properties from building products.In a large sense BASTA works like this; On the BASTA web site there is a database, to which a supplier can register the company and the company’s products. Only those products with a substance content that fulfil the demands of the BASTA system, is to be registered. As it is the supplier himself that carries out the registration of the company and the company’s products to the system, the BASTA-organisation annually controls that the companies that are registered in the database, fulfils BASTA’s demands.Since NCC is one of the companies that operates BASTA, BASTA is probably going to be the environmental assessment system that is recommended for the company in the future.

In Sweden, there are limits to how much leachable substances waste must contain in order to be deposited as hazardous waste. Fly ash from waste incineration often end up over the limit, mainly due to the chloride content. Fly ash is therefore often deposited abroad. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility to handle fly ash locally. To clarify how the law is applied, environmental reports and permit documents from ten waste sites with permission to deposit fly ash were studied.

AbstractIn the fall of 2003 a project was started in the Swedish building sector that is called BASTA (the building sectors’ termination of especially harmful substances). The project is operated by the building companies NCC, Skanska, PEAB and JM, the Swedish Building Industry and the Swedish Environmental Institute IVL. The purpose of the project is to create a common environmental assessment system for the entire building industry and with the help of this system phase out the use of especially harmful properties from building products.In a large sense BASTA works like this; On the BASTA web site there is a database, to which a supplier can register the company and the company’s products. Only those products with a substance content that fulfil the demands of the BASTA system, is to be registered. As it is the supplier himself that carries out the registration of the company and the company’s products to the system, the BASTA-organisation annually controls that the companies that are registered in the database, fulfils BASTA’s demands.Since NCC is one of the companies that operates BASTA, BASTA is probably going to be the environmental assessment system that is recommended for the company in the future.

In theory, the logic behind partnerships is simple: All organisations have strengths, but no organisation has all the strength required to do everything. Triggered by global perspectives and challenged by sustainability objectives, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 pointed out needs for corporate responsibility. In this conference, Private-public partnership, PPP, was identified as a potential way to work towards sustainability, especially as a way to emphasize a corporate responsibility commitment. Nowadays, organizations exist to satisfy the needs and interests of all their stakeholders, such as customers, markets, shareholders, as well as secondary stakeholders such as media, NGOs, and society at large. Addressing all stakeholders and working towards a sustainable business development makes PPP a potential solution, but also a source of challenges.

Detta arbete har identifierat fyra betydande faktorer vars verkan resulterat i att de intervjuade småföretagen valt att inte organisera miljöarbetet enligt ISO 14001 standarden: fragmenterad kunskap om miljöproblem.

Vole populations in northern Scandinavia vary in cycles with peaks every third or fourth year as described by the National Environmental Monitoring Programme of small mammals (NEMP). Some vole species have declined in population numbers since the NEMP started in 1971, especially the grey-sided vole (Myodes rufocanus) which is nearly extinct in the forested region. Since small mammals are an important food source for several avian and mammalian predators, the decline in vole numbers is expected to have consequences for the whole food chain, especially if other vole species start to decline in numbers. This study tried to test the hypothesis that presence and abundance of M. rufocanus (a specialist species) and Myodes glareolus (a generalist species) can be predicted by patch size and connectivity of forest patches >60 years old with a minimum of 15% pine >100years old.

The main environmental problem for aviation is the great amount of exhaust gases, mainly nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons - mostly "greenhouse gases" leading to climate changes. I decided to sort out what is being done to decrease these problems and what regulations there are concerning air pollution by the means of searching the internet and using publications from aviation authorities for current figures. I chose to scrutinize authorities on political, authority and company level, resulting in summarizing the work of UN and EU respectively, ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization), JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) and LFV (Swedish Civil Aviation Authority), and finally SAS, representing the airline companies. Conclusion that I have drawn are thatthere are regulations for air pollution, written down in ICAO's Annex 16, that are to be followed. Secondly, LFV are environmentally controlling their nineteen airports and since economy is an important reason for not giving priority to environmental issues in aviation emission charge and noise charge are added to the landing fees.