In Sweden, a big part of the energy use is used in the housing sector. Political goals and targets are set up which the housing sector needs to work towards. Apartment buildings are a major part of the housing sector in Sweden and therefore reduction of energy use in these kinds of buildings are key to lower the energy use in Sweden. But there are not only political incentives to reduce the energy use. Some energy?saving measures are directly profitable and should thus be performed.

The findings in this case study are mainly based on material collected during a field trip with a fellow student to Laos in February-March 2005, which was sponsored by Sida through a Minor Field Study scholarship. The original interest was to study a political aid project (Governance and Administrative Reform Project Luang Prabang, GPAR LP) in a country like Laos with very complex preconditions such as one-party polity. In Laos my interest in evaluation of political aid grew mainly because I found out that the two donors in the project, Sida and the UNDP, had reached different conclusions in their respective evaluations of the project.The main interest in this thesis has been to study how donors have evaluated a political aid project. The study shows that Sida and UNDP used, what in the literature usually is referred to as, Conventional evaluation as methodology when they conducted their evaluations of GPAR LP. The study also shows that the main reason for the different points of view that are expressed in the evaluations depend on a lack of dialogue and consensus, regarding for the project crucial concepts, rather than choice of evaluation methodology.

In February 2002 the European commission put forward a proposal for a new directive on The patentability of computer-implemented inventions, but which during my work on this essay has not been decided on yet. The directive has divided the decision-makers in the union, the commission and parliament, into two different positions regarding by which range computer-implemented inventions should be patentable. The parliament has amended the commissions proposal in a substantial way and the legal process has caused a heated debate both within the unions administration and among various interest groups both in favour of and against a patent on computer-implemented inventions. The loudest protests have come from a group that feels threatened by a possible software patent: Open Source. In this study I examine both the arguments by the decision-makers and by the lobbying for and against the proposal.

In today?s society a large focus is put on energy systems and how our energy systems are built up. In order to make sure that we in the future still can enjoy the living standards that we are used to today, Sweden and EU have made a number of decisions on making our energy system more energy efficient and consequently reduce the usage of energy resources. By 2020 the European Union should have reduced its energy consumption by 20 % compared to 1990?s level, and by 2050, 50%.

Certification systems, that assess companies? work with social and environmental issues, have emerged in an increasing number of industries. Today, there are environmental certifications for the food industry, the forestry, the fisheries sector and several more. In apparel industry, certification for sustainable working conditions has been of major impact. The property sector is no exception from other industries.

AbstractA master thesis in business administration 30 hp, Jönköping International Business School, Spring semester 2012.Authors: Sarah Henningsson & Jim BörefeltSupervisor: Urban ÖsterlundTitle: Commercial real estate investment ? Factors from an investor perspectiveBackground and problem: In this study, we focused on the real estate investor and the factors and issues that may arise and affect real estate investment decisions. It has been put in relation to the other parties in the process of assessing and affecting real estate investment decision. The parties that we studied are real estate investors, banks, brokers and appraisers.Purpose: This study aims to describe and explain the factors that affect commercial real estate investments for investors, credit assessment conducted by the bank and valuation made by the broker and appraiser.Delimitations: We have chosen to limit the study to commercial real estates including residential, retail and office properties, industrial properties and combinations thereof. Agriculture buildings and forestry plots are not examined.

Companies today are expected to communicate their responsibility to the world around them. Society?s expectations differ and stakeholders are demanding that companies act responsibly on matters related to climate, work environment and human rights. The purpose of sustainability reports is that companies should measure, present and take responsibility in relation to their internal and external stakeholders. It is intended that a reasonable picture of the company's sustainability performance should be communicated, containing both positive and negative effects.Companies efforts with sustainability issues is industry-dependent and industries with significant environmental problems perform the most advanced environmental statement.

The study aims to reduce energy consumption in apartment buildings where individual metering and charging of heat is applied. The aim is to develop planning and design for individual metering and charging in apartment buildings.The study is based on literature review, interviews and case study that include analysis of existing documents. Interviews were carried out with the property developer and the involved consultants who planned the apartment building Yasuragi. To investigate the differences the condominium association has noted in heat consumption between flats, the debit values of the heat were used to discern which houses that were furthest from the average consumption. On these flats there were temperature measurements and thermal photo shoots made for discriminating behavior and possible construction techniques which could be the explanation for the heat spread.Boverket shows that the consumption of heat can be reduced by 10-20% after insertion of individual metering and charging in an apartment block.

AbstractA master thesis in business administration 30 hp, Jönköping International Business School, Spring semester 2012.Authors: Sarah Henningsson & Jim BörefeltSupervisor: Urban ÖsterlundTitle: Commercial real estate investment ? Factors from an investor perspectiveBackground and problem: In this study, we focused on the real estate investor and the factors and issues that may arise and affect real estate investment decisions. It has been put in relation to the other parties in the process of assessing and affecting real estate investment decision. The parties that we studied are real estate investors, banks, brokers and appraisers.Purpose: This study aims to describe and explain the factors that affect commercial real estate investments for investors, credit assessment conducted by the bank and valuation made by the broker and appraiser.Delimitations: We have chosen to limit the study to commercial real estates including residential, retail and office properties, industrial properties and combinations thereof. Agriculture buildings and forestry plots are not examined.

Det har blivit vanligt att kommuner måste hänvisa en ny hämtningsplats pga. att sophämtningsentreprenörens skyddsombud har belagt hämtningen med skyddstopp. Därmed kan inte hushållsavfallet hämtas på den befintliga hämtningsplatsen utan kommunen måste hitta en ny hämtningsplats för hushållsavfallet. Ny hämtningsplats får inte meddelas hur som helst utan detta måste ske i enlighet med lagstiftning och förordningar.Syftet med denna uppsats är att få fram riktlinjer för vad som gäller när en ny hämtningsplats för hushållsavfall måste utfärdas och hur kommuner runt om i landet har löst problem som har uppstått i samband med detta.För att kunna upprätta en hämtningsplats måste Kommunen ha rådighet över eller avtal med ägaren till den mark som skall användas för hämtningsplatsen. Kommunerna som svarade på enkäten har löst problemet på olika sätt men i regel har det varit antingen kommunens eller den berörda fastighetsägarens mark som använts till hämtningsplats för hushållssoporna.Avståndet mellan bostaden och hämtningsplatsen kan variera från fall till fall men Avfall Sverige har tagit fram riktlinjer för fritidshus om 400-500 meter.

Title: Global Reporting Initiative - A comparative study on compliance with the initiative's guidelines between Ericsson and Vattenfall.Authors: Peter Leidhammar, Mattias ThorénSupervisor: Bo EnquistExaminer: Margareta BjurkloSeminar Date: 2009-01-14Background and problem formulation: The interest and the requirements that stakeholders have for companies sustainability issues are becoming increasingly important. Thus more companies are increasing their work on their sustainability reports. As there are no laws governing how these are to be designed, standards have been created by various organizations that companies voluntarily can follow. Now, after the Swedish government gave them the directive to follow the GRI's guidelines the Swedish public companies have started to follow this trend. The question then stand how much the private companies' sustainability reports differ from state companies and whether this can be traced to the differences in the companies' ownership and their stakeholders picture.Objective: The purpose of the paper is:· analyze how the GRI's guidelines are followed by the two organizations· highlight differences between them from a theoretical perspectiveLimitations: This paper is limited to two companies, one company owned by the government and one privately-owned company.

The knowledge of value-enhancing factors in condominiums is very important for real estate agents when valuing condominiums, but it is also of interest to the owner for an upcoming renovation and sale. Previous research has sorted out the most fundamental factors affecting value of condominiums such as location size, age and condition.The purpose of this paper is by consumer?s actual preferences regarding various attributes identify the most value-adding factors in condominiums. Thereby we want to add and nuance previous research.This has been done through a quantitative method in which possible buyers have ranked how various attributes affect their willingness to pay. The results were analyzed and the median of the various attributes have been recognized.The result shows in accordance with previous research that the location is the primary value-adding factor.

AbstractEssay in Political Science, C ? level, by Ylva Björkegren, spring semester 2008. Tutor: Anna Spånning. ?Sida from a liberal feministic perspective.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how the distance between real estate manager and the managed item influenced the real estate management process. The overall real estate management within Lantmännen Fastigheter AB was investigated to give suggestions on how to improve the quality of the real estate management within the company. To do this, questionnaires, interviews and observations was performed within the Lantmännen Fastigheter AB organization. Real estate managers answered questions about their role as real estate manager, maintenance planning, decision processes, leasing and strategies within the company.The analysis of the questionnaires, interviews and observations showed that the real estate managers wants to rearrange their spent working hours around on working tasks to spend more time on the tasks that brings income and spend less time on tasks that are unsatisfying and unnecessary. The analysis also shows in which areas the real estate managers want more support and education and that they mostly work with unplanned maintenance.

Bachelor of Science, Construction and real estate economics at the University of Halmstad, Sweden, 2012. Author: Emilia Bjuvensjo? and Emma Davidson Advisor: Sven-Ola CarlssonExaminer: Kent Sahlgren Title: Condominiums ? A study of what factors are preventing condominiums from having a breakthrough on the Swedish housing market.Background:In Sweden condominiums have been discussed over and over again during the past 100 years. The government decided that on the 1st of May 2009 they would introduce a new kind of housing-form, condominiums. Ever since the new law came into force, no major changes have been done in the Swedish condominium market.