In the coming years, organic food waste will be collected in the region of Gästrikland, Sweden. The collection is planned to cover the entire region by the end of year 2007. To start with, smaller amounts are being collected and transported to a central composting plant in Sala. However, a central composting plant in the region of Gästrikland is projected.The objective of this thesis is to evaluate a number of possible methods for composting of organic food wastes regarding their environmental impacts and localization.There are four scenarios for future composting of organic waste that have been evaluated. There are two that consist of membrane composting, either in Sala or in the region of Gästrikland.

This report describes the nutritional requirements of the dog and cat. You are also able to learn about the most common diseases in the dog and cat where food has an important role in both prevention and recovery of these diseases. We describe FLUTD, canine urolithiasis, heart- and kidney disease, gastrointestinal diseases and obesity. You have to know the right balance between different nutrients to decrease the stress on the body and to prevent the advancement of the diseases. Finally we discuss the differences between three manufacturers of veterinary prescribed diets and two commercial pet foods..

A clean and affordable energy source for cooking is deficient in developing countries. People rely on fuels that contribute to environmental, social and health problems.Biogas is an alternative energy source and an increased investment in small-scale biogas production can in several developing countries be found. Several projects have started to use the technology in developing countries because of the benefits with biogas. Some cases in the establishment of biogas plants have succeeded and some have not. The study is a literature review supplemented by two field studies.

A clean and affordable energy source for cooking is deficient in developing countries. People rely on fuels that contribute to environmental, social and health problems.Biogas is an alternative energy source and an increased investment in small-scale biogas production can in several developing countries be found. Several projects have started to use the technology in developing countries because of the benefits with biogas. Some cases in the establishment of biogas plants have succeeded and some have not. The study is a literature review supplemented by two field studies.

The fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear accident resulted in large deposits of caesium, iodineand strontium as well as noble gases in various parts of Sweden. 137Cs has a radioactive halflifeof about 30 years and is therefore one of few radio-fission products remaining inmeasurable quantities in the Swedish soil. Radiocaesium behaves similarly to potassium insoil-plant systems and is easily absorbed by plants. It is important to understand how 137Csbehaves in different ecosystems in order to minimize the risk toward humans.The aim of this study was to determine how potassium fertilization influences radiocaesiumcontent in different forest plants and fungi. Potassium fertilizer was spread once in 1992 withapproximately 200 kg KCl per ha.

The Baltic Sea, due to its special conditions, is a unique and vulnerable marine environment. There are many pressures that have an impact on the sea and one of the major problems is the extensive flow of nutrients from land. The most visible effect of the supply of nutrients is the annual algal blooms. One of the main sources of nitrogen and phosphorus supply is agriculture. Nutrient losses from arable land have been increasing as agricultural production has intensified. At the end of the twentieth century an increased awareness of these problems led to the formation of organizations such as HELCOM and Baltic 21.

During pulp and papermaking process a huge amount of water is used. The wastewater contains a large amount of pollutants and has to be treated before it reaches the recipient. In March 2004 a new bleaching plant was started up at SCA Graphic Sundsvall AB, Ortviken?s paper mill using peroxide. The production of bleached thermo mechanical pulp and thus the load to the wastewater plant increased.

A clean and affordable energy source for cooking is deficient in developing countries. People rely on fuels that contribute to environmental, social and health problems.Biogas is an alternative energy source and an increased investment in small-scale biogas production can in several developing countries be found. Several projects have started to use the technology in developing countries because of the benefits with biogas. Some cases in the establishment of biogas plants have succeeded and some have not. The study is a literature review supplemented by two field studies.

This is a literature review of how the climate change affects the forest growth innorthern Sweden. The temperature will rise about 5 °C with the largest increase in thewinter season (December - February) and the CO2level in the atmosphere is expected tobe doubled. Precipitation patterns will change and increase with 25-35 % and theprecipitation will be in form of rain rather than snow. Today the forests in northernSweden are entirely dominated by coniferous stands. This may shift with the climatechange and results in a larger number of deciduous trees, preferably birch will becomestronger and grow better and faster.

One of the environmental problems today in seas, lakes and streams is eutrophication. This is often caused by nutrients such as phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) that leak from agricultural areas. A measure to partly prevent the nutrient discharge is to construct or restore wetlands.In order to control the efficiency of nutrient reduction of existing wetlands in the county, the administrative board in Västra Götaland wants to find different criterias for reference wetlands. These reference wetlands should represent other wetlands and be used in future evaluations of reduction of nutrients and design of constructed wetlands. According to the administrative board in Västra Götaland the reference wetlands should have a catchment area of about 50 hectare consisting of at least 70 % arable land, to represent wetlands created to remove nutrients.

A clean and affordable energy source for cooking is deficient in developing countries. People rely on fuels that contribute to environmental, social and health problems.Biogas is an alternative energy source and an increased investment in small-scale biogas production can in several developing countries be found. Several projects have started to use the technology in developing countries because of the benefits with biogas. Some cases in the establishment of biogas plants have succeeded and some have not. The study is a literature review supplemented by two field studies.

Biogas is a gaseous fuel, rich in methane, produced through a biological route in an anaerobic digester. A gas engine generates combined heat and power, which can be used at the farm to reduce energy cost. The process also generates a digestate, with better utilization of nutrient compared to cattle manure. The aim of this study is to analyze the profitability of a farm-scale biogas plant for combined heat and power (CHP) at Wapnö. Wapnö is an agriculture company located in the southern part of Sweden.

In some coastal areas in Sweden water shortage sometimes appears because the withdrawal of groundwater is greater than the groundwater recharge. It creates a situation where the available groundwater is insufficient to support residents and businesses with drinking water. The high withdrawal of groundwater also creates a risk for saltwater intrusion to drinking water wells. The problem most commonly occurs during the summer when the groundwater recharge is low, but the population is high, due to tourism and summer residents.The purpose of this study was to investigate how local water supply in areas affected by water shortage can be solved as sustainable as possible. The work was divided into three parts where the first part comprised of a literature review on water systems in which four different options were investigated: artificial groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting, desalination and water reuse.

A Biogas plant in SLU?s (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) management sustains to behave in con-nection with the new animal stables at Lövsta. There will primarily manure from stables that rot to biogas. The biogas plant will also have the capacity that rot others substrates that can arise in the farm operation. The aim with the biogas plant is to produce non fossil electrical and gas heat for own customs, to reduce smell impact from stables and to make possible different types of research investments within the area.This study has implemented multiple cases study of different investment scenarios.

Plant survival, plant damage and height growth were studied in nine wild cherry (Prunus avium L.) plantations in southern Sweden established between 2000 and 2002. All stands were located to the county of Småland. The survey was conducted during May and June in 2007. During the survey the height, diameter and quality of the cherry trees were recorded. In one stand, red ? berried Elder (Sambucus racemosa L.) was a dominant species.