Because of the increasing trends in energy consumption and increased environmental awareness, greater focus has been placed on improvement and development of renewable energy sources. An already proven and accepted method is biogas production from anaerobic digestion at municipal wastewater treatment plants.In the waste water treatment process solid material and dissolved pollutants are separated from the water, forming a sludge. The sludge is separated from the process and stabilized during anaerobic digestion or aerobic aeration. Most often, mesophilic anaerobic digestion is used. Because of degradation by microorganisms, biogas with a high content of methane is formed during the digestion.

In Sweden there are 354 000 private individuals owning forest. Of these forest owners there are at least two thirds that are self-employed, which means that about 215 000 forest owners conduct some kind of work in their own forest. Those numbers do not refer to firewood production, but every year 7.3 million piled cubic meters of firewood are used for heating Swedish households. This implies that many households are also producing firewood. The objective of this study was to assess and analyse the small-scale firewood production in the Umeå-region in terms of persons engaged in the work, equipment used, produced volumes and share of forest-owning households involved in these activities. According to results from a questionnaire, the average firewood producing person is a man between 40-60 years old.

Swedish law is very keen on the fact that every person should be treated equal when facing the legal system. When it comes to cases concerning children, social workers and judges are expected to strictly obey the rules of the law but at the same time make individual judgements based on the best interest of the child, something that requires a great deal of empathy and knowledge. Is it possible to live up to the maxim about equality and to simultaneously see the individual needs? With so many different parties and angles in the case, how does one manage to make a solid appraisal of the situation that truly serves the best interest of the child?The purpose of this study was to examine the capability within the social services with focus on objectivity. More specifically it's aim was to find out how the social workers and judges see their capability of being objective in the investigations concerning children.

Biofuels are getting more important as EU plans to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. Because of that Sveaskog has chosen to invest in developing the handling process of logging residue. The company has a joined organisation for handling both round wood and logging residue. They are also working at integrating the forwarding of the logging residue with the rest of the harvesting team. Sveaskog is currently extracting 44 % of the available amount of logging residue.

In the production of pulp, paper and cardboard, a large amount of water is used daily. The water has to be purified in the internal purifying plant before it reaches the receiving body of water. In the biological purifying stage at the Stora Enso Skoghall mill, an aerated basin is used where the microorganisms, using oxygen, oxidize the organic material to carbon dioxide. The air is pumped from the bottom of the basin and the oxygen can then be transported from the air bubbles to the water through diffusion. The problem with aeration of waste water from the forest industry is that wood residues, such as fatty acids, are making the transport of oxygen in water more difficult.

This candidate essay is built on literature studies and discusses the meaning of the residential yard along with what you, as a landscape architect, should think about when you are designing functional residential yards. To do this I found it necessary to figure out what it is that makes people step outside their own apartment and out into the city?s public places. The reasons for this are numerous and many times individually affected. Something that plays a role in people?s outdoor life and prevents them from spending time outside is the lack of time, the technique of today and the feeling off insecurity.

Climate change is an increasingly widely known concept. In the EU the construction sector is responsible for more than a third of the carbon dioxide emissions and 40 % of the total energy use. In Sweden, measures have been taken to prevent this climate change. By 16 targets, three of which can be linked to the construction sector, Sweden will reduce the negative trend. None of the three goals with relation to the construction sector will however be achieved before 2020.

A new Swedish political approach to forestry was initiated 1993, that put goals of production and environmental issues into equal importance to Swedish Forestry Law. Earlier nature conservation very often declaimed preservation the best way to conserve nature, but recently it is clear that many highly biological values are due to former land use or disturbance. Many old pastures or cultivations dominated by deciduous trees are today characterized by a dense overgrowth of Norway spruce. By actively paying attention to nature in forestry (nature restoration), it is possible to partly reconstruct habitats or disturbances that are necessary to favour the biological values. The aim with this master thesis is to study the nature restoration, (NS, Swedish abbreviation), performed in 11 forest sites in the middle of Sweden 8-14 years ago. Since NS recently have become applied, it has never yet been evaluated.

Metabolic diseases in dairy cows are considered to increase the risk for claw lesions, most of all laminitis, sole haemorrhages and sole ulcers, but also to increase the risk for environmental claw lesions. The aim of this study was to compare claw health in 27 Swedish dairy farms, 18 with high incidence of metabolic diseases and 9 with low incidence. Data on claw health status was retrieved from recordings at routine claw trimmings and analysed on herd level regarding the prevalence of: any lesion, interdigital dermatitis, heel-horn erosion, sole haemorrhages, sole ulcer, lameness, abnormal claw shape, and other diseases (abscess in the white line, limb disorders, double sole, laminitic groove, white line disease, interdigital phlegmon, interdigital hyperplasia, toe abscess and verucose dermatitis). Mean prevalence of any lesion for herds with low incidence of metabolic diseases was 48 % and in herds with high incidence 41 %, and there was no statistical difference between the two groups. Mean prevalence for interdigital dermatitis was 2,0 % and 6.4 % in the low and high incidence groups, respectively (p.

Nature conservation agreement (NCA) is a way to voluntarily protect and manage nature for limited time-periods. The agreement is settled between the government and a landowner. All public authorities can represent the government but it is only the Swedish Forest Administration who does that regularly (because it is the only authority with economic resources for that purpose). Therefore, NCAs are almost only used to protect forested nature. The government agencies have experienced NCAs for about ten years and it is now time to examine how they are applied in the forests. This study is based on a computerized questionnaire to the persons responsible for the LEKO-projekt.

Denna rapport sammanfattar det examensarbete som utförts 2012 på kandidatnivå av Erika Dahlström och Josefin Hult på Mälardalens Högskola i Eskilstuna. Examensarbetet har utförts i samarbete med ÅF Technology AB i Västerås.Projektets idé uppstod i ett tidigare fiktivt högskoleprojekt där tanken om ett vindkraftverk skulle vara intressant för privatpersoner kom till. Detta projekt har vidareutvecklat denna tanke och projektet har då utvecklats till att syfta till att undersöka om det finns en marknad för miniverk i byggsatsform avsett för privatpersoner, vad marknaden efterfrågar samt utveckla och konstruera en miniverksmast. Ett miniverk är ett vindkraftverk som vanligtvis inte behöver bygglov.För att kunna besvara hur marknaden ser ut har omfattande research utförts samt en marknadsundersökning. Från researchen sågs att det finns liknande befintliga produkter vilket innebar att projektets syfte gick från att konceptutveckla ett helt miniverk till att differentiera vår produkt från konkurrenternas.

Each year, Heterobasidion spp. is a major cause of economic losses to forestry in the northernhemisphere, including Sweden. New results indicate that pre?commercial thinnings could be at riskfor Heterobasidion spp. infections.

During the period 1952-2008, real prices of wood before taxes and charges declined. However, the actual net income has not changed by the same percentage as the price list, because taxation, driving costs and the ability to make deductions has changed. This report considers the inflation by using the Swedish consumer price index. Net income refers to the remaining income when relevant costs, taxes and fees have been paid.The purpose of this study was to examine how the private forest owner's real net income has evolved over the period 1952-2008 for three categories of forest owners. These three categories are1.

Chile and Santiago are struggling with heavy environmental problems as a consequence of urbanisation and industrialisation. In the Santiago region the air is seriously contaminated and most of the rivers are classified as heavily polluted.The aim of this thesis is to survey the industrial fluid waste situation in the Santiago region and to make suggestions on technological improvements or process changes. The purpose is also to study five different enterprises more closely and to give more detailed suggestions for improvement. Another purpose is to summarize relevant Chilean legislation.Information, provided by the supervisory authority, about the release of industrial wastewater to rivers has been analysed. Deep interviews have been made with authorities and consultants.

Idag blir det allt vanligare med träbyggnader högre än två våningar. Detta tillsammans med en modern arkitektur som ger stora öppna planlösningar ställer höga krav på bjälklagen i träbyggnader. Problematiken med långa spännvidder för bjälklag i trä är att klara kraven för svikt och nedböjning. Dessa krav måste uppfyllas för att säkerställa funktioner hos andra byggdelar och för att människor inte ska uppleva att golvet sviktar eller vibrerar på ett obehagligt sätt.Ett träbjälklag bestående av limmade balkar av sidobräder har utvecklats. Bjälklaget är utformat av balkar med I-tvärsnitt i primärriktningen och rektangulära balktvärsnitt i sekundärriktningen.