In today?s modern society with high-speed connections covering the globe people are more than ever finding themselves gazing into the cold lights of the computer screen. On the other side a strange and exciting world yet to be explored awaits. Many are those who spend hour after hour running over green hills swimming in vast blue oceans in the lands of Azeroth, the playfield in the MMORPG game World of Warcraft. In media we often read and hear alarming reports on players stuck in this virtual world, ceasing to play a part in the real world.

Hållbar utveckling delas upp i tre områden, ekologisk hållbarhet, social hållbarhet och ekonomisk hållbarhet. Dessa tre kompletterar och stödjer varandra. Grön Flagg är ett verktyg som är till stor hjälp för pedagoger på olika nivåer inom förskolan och skolan för att öka barnens förståelse för sambandet mellan naturen och ett hållbart samhälle i framtiden. Målet med min undersökning var att ta reda på hur förskolorna arbetar med Grön Flagg.Rapporten handlar om hur erfarna pedagoger hjälper barn i förskoleåldern förstå naturens möjligheter genom lek och övningar, samt förstå sambandet mellan naturen och ett hållbart samhälle..

In this report the importance of irrigation scheduling in dry climate is shown, how it can save water and energy; how this method can improve crop yield by supplying the right amount of water at the right time. It is shown how irrigation scheduling and irri-gation technology together increase the irrigation efficiency..

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how investments are justified in the Swedish data center industry, with a focus on cooling equipment. This is achieved through semi-structured interviews with 20 different interviewees. These interviewees represent different facets of the industry and facilitate an understanding of which factors, such as: investment costs, operating costs, reliability, environmental impact and the influence of external and internal actors, come into play and to which degree they impact the investment decision-making process. The results show that primarily low operating cost in the form of low energy consumption is the driving factor when it comes to the procurement of new equipment. A lower environmental impact is a positive side-effect of lower energy consumption.

All products will eventually end up as waste, which in a sustainable society has to be handled in an efficient and environment friendly way. This report focuses on waste fractions meant for combustion, often difficult to characterize. However, more homogeneous fractions that are treated biologically are also discussed.The study concerns the region of Borås, Sweden, where the waste plant Sobacken has provided a good starting point. On this site, fuel to the Energy-from-Waste plant of Borås Energi is prepared and the biological waste is treated through anaerobic digestion.One important part of the study has been to collect experience-based knowledge from the technical staff at Sobacken and Borås Energi. This information was compiled into an overview of wanted and unwanted fractions to the preparation plant and the boilers respectively.

This thesis is made by Carl Persson and Alejandro Saavedra for Gryaab. Gryaab is Gothenburg?s water processing plant and produces about 60 GWh biogas annually with a flow around 1150 Nm3/h. Gryaab wants to research their possibilities to become independent with electrical energy and the possibilities to enrich, upgrade biogas. The use of methane rich gases like biogas and natural gas is today low in Sweden compared to major parts of the world.

 Enligt tidigare undersökningar har vanadinföreningar visat sig ha insulinliknande effekter både in vitro och in vivo. Syftet med detta examensarbete var att prova ut en teknik för att testa effekten av vanadinföreningar på två olika celltyper: adherenta celler (AA-celler) och suspensionsceller (K562-celler). När insulinet binder till sin receptor på cellytan är det starten på en biologisk respons. Insulinreceptorn är ett tyrosinkinas som transporterar fosfatgrupper från ATP till tyrosin på sin egen peptidkedja. De aktiverade tyrosinkinasreceptorn kan aktivera ett antal signalmolekyler, bland annat proteinkinas B.

The construction of buildings and paved surfaces changes the natural water balance.Precipitation generates surface runoff and storm water instead of infiltrating into the soil.Storm water has come to be considered as a major source of pollution in lakes and streams inthe vicinity of urban areas. Reduction of pollutants in storm water is a key action in order toprotect sensitive recipients and maintain high water quality. Storm water is traditionallytransported by storm sewers to the nearest recipient. In recent years the approach to stormwater management has changed; storm water should primarily be disposed of on site, throughlocal disposal of storm water, LOD. LOD is created by a combination of the function ofseveral smaller local facilities and the general sewer system.

This paper aims to explore the phenomenon urban wind energy, its visual effect on built environment and the factors that affect the opinion towards new elements in the city. A place study of the city Gävle serves as a complement to the theoretical part of the paper. The theoretical discussion opens with an account for the technical and economical conditions of urban wind energy. It presents the technical basics, different types of turbines and a discussion occurring wind related techniques in built environment. Today, the knowledge of how the wind moves and acts in the rural landscape is quite good.

As a result of increased energy prices more and more energy-efficient homes are coveted. An energy-efficient alternative is passive houses, which is characterized by an extremely well insulated building envelope that recovers the heat without the use of radiators or under floor heating. But a passive house requires a higher investment cost than a conventional building project, since it will require more construction materials, training of construction workers, greater land area, and long construction period. But the lower operating cost expects to pay back the higher cost of investment. We therefore question how profitable a passive house is in relation to houses built according to modern conventional building techniques.The aim of our study is to investigate the viability of passive houses compared to convent­ional houses.

Green Cargo är den största aktören för godstransporter på järnväg i Sverige. Dotterbolaget Road&Logistics erbjuder kombinerade transporter bestående av järnväg och lastbil. Järnvägen utnyttjas för de långväga transporterna och lastbilarna för slingtrafiken. Med hjälp av crossdockingterminaler samlastas även gods från olika lastbärare till en enhet. Detta för att optimera kapacitetsutnyttjandet, vilket ger synergieffekter i form av miljövinster och sänkta kostnader.

Wind power is becoming an increasingly important source of energy. There are several national and international goals set to increase to amount of renewable energy, and in order to meet these goals, the wind power production plays an important part and the establishment of new wind power farms are required. The Swedish national project Riksintresse Vindbruk has appointed areas in Sweden suitable for wind power, mainly when looking at the physical wind conditions of the area. In this study, I aim to define suitable areas for wind power establishment in Norrbottens län. In order to reach this goal, a critical regional method was developed and completed using GIS.

För att en kvalitativ och driftsäker kraftomvandling från vind till elkraft skall erhållas ställs krav på en mängd olika faktorer. Klimatologiska och tekniska faktorer kräver korrekt dimensionering och anpassning av omvandlingstekniken för att största möjliga energimängd skall kunna omvandlas på ett driftsäkert och energieffektivt vis som vindkraftsägare, nätägare kräver. Vinden är som bekant en oberäknelig kraftkälla. Variationerna i styrka och tid kan innebära en hel del driftoptimeringsproblematik med efterverkningar för vindkraftsverket, nätet och belastningen. Konsekvenserna kan bero på vilken typ av teknik som är installerad i de olika delarna av energisystemet och i områdets elnät.

The equine hoof is often manipulated in purpose to achieve a better stride or to reduce the weight on damaged tissue. The living tissue in the hoof can?t store energy as glycogen and is therefore depending on a continuous supply of glucose for its energy production. The purpose of the study was to determine if wedging (i.e. elevating) the heel could influence the hooves glucose and lactate consumption/production. Five standardbred horses were trained to trot on a treadmill without getting physical or mentally tired.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the stir drying method, for drying of grain during Swedish conditions. The evaluation was done during the harvest year 2004, on four farms with stir driers. The driers were evaluated for their energy consumption, design, stirring effectiveness and how much time the farmer has to spend on every tonne of grain. A comparison was also done with conventional Swedish high temperature driers. Totaly six batches of grain from stir driers were examined, mostly winter wheat, but also barley and wheat.