A possible way to reduce pollution and slow down the process of global warming is to increase the usage of renewable energy sources. One of these renewable energy sources is solar power. With the aid of solar panels and solar cells the energy from the sun can be transformed into both heating and electricity. The requirement to use the sun in this fashion is a suitable surface, for example a big roof, an angle between 40-60 degrees and that the surface should be exposed to the south. Almost every farm meets these requirements.

Recently there have been a lot of talk a about the financial crisis and recession. This is understandable since the crisis, which initially was limited to the U.S. now has spread its concern globally in form of bankruptcies, less investment and lots of people have lost here jobs. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the financial crisis have affected the construction industry relating to market and personnel, but also examine what measures the construction companies have taken. The examination was carried out by information received from the majority of construction-related websites which then was followed up with interviews in the various construction sectors.

Biogas mainly consists of methane and carbon dioxide, where methane is theenergy-rich gas, and is naturally created when organic matter breaks down in absenceof oxygen, also known as anaerobic digestion. A biogas plant re-creates the anaerobicconditions inside a digester where the organic substrate is fed into and digests toproduce biogas. The gas is then used to produce energy by combustion and can beseen as a completely renewable fuel.Today, energy from biogas is used primarily by major stakeholders such asmunicipalities and thus the plants become very large with high investment- andconstruction costs. There are currently few small plants in Sweden, even though thepotential for agriculture and medium-sized to smaller farms to become self-sufficientin terms of electricity and heat is great. Farms have a natural stock of digestibleorganic material in form of manure or crops for example, which are constantlyavailable.

The Swedish cooperative Lantmännen Ekonomiska Förening has initiated a project labelled "Operation Blåljus" that includes an extensive program for closing down elevators. The number of elevators will be reduced from 92 to approximately 15 after harvest of 2007. The objective of Blåljus is to increase the price of grain with 10 öre/kg. A project has been initiated at the Lantmännen Grain division where the purpose is to provide the farmers with support in their decisions and practical advice how they can load a 35 ton grain truck on 30 minutes. The result from the project will serve as a support system to the farmer in his ambition to achieve cost efficient systems to load a truck with grain on the farm.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how people can return from a marginalized position and become a part of society. Also how a model for returning from a marginalized position should be formed. The intention is to make a contribution to those in society that are helping people to return from marginalized positions. The survey is based on 5 thematic qualitative interviews on individuals that have returned from homelessness, criminality, drug abuse and prostitution. The main results of the investigation are that those who took part in it started their role exit with a turning point.

In Uppsala CHP Plant, there are six pressure reducing valves to reduce the pressure from 15 to 3 bars, before six absorption heat pumps. During the process the energy is conserved but losses occur in form of exergy. The aim of this thesis is to reduce the losses of exergy. This can be done by letting turbines replace the pressure reducing valves.In this thesis an investigation has been done of the conditions today, the conditions after the change from pressure reducing valves to turbines and a comparison of three different types of turbine solutions. The three examined solutions are one turbine, several helical screw expanders and several small turbines in parallel with asynchronous generators.The six absorption heat pumps have been divided into two groups; one group of four and one group of two absorption heat pumps.

Real estate financing is one of the key figures for financial success and fundamental to asuccessful business. Funding will come in several different ways, from existing cashflows andassets to new capital requirements which are aimed at different markets.These markets are constantly changing and since the recent financial crisis, there have beenadjustments and austerity measures which led to that the banks have become more restrictive intheir lending.The real estate industry is characterized by both long-term and short-term thinking that ischaracterized by a solid continuity. Our thesis discuss how the demand is in the real estatebusiness and how mature the Swedish market is for junior financingwith focus aroundmezzanine debt and where are we headed in the near future.We've reached out to the key players in the industry on both the buy and sell side of real estatefinancing but also people between lenders and borrowers that handles transaction advice. Tohave been able to implement the analysisa survey and simulation of an investment calculationwas created. This questionnaire was answered by many real estate companies with senior peoplethat had operational positionsmost associated with corporate commitments.

2013 a decision was made that all projects at the Swedish Transport Administration shoulduse BIM (Building Information Modeling) to some extent from 2015. BIM is an approachthat allows for streamlining of projects by the use of a 3D-model created in an early stage ofthe project. The 3D-model can carry information about the facility throughout its life cyclefrom planning to management. The use of a 3D-model can help the project to detect errors inearly stages of the project when it is easy and cheap to fix the error instead of finding theerror in the construction phase when it is costly and time consuming to fix it. 3D-models alsolead to improved communication both within the project groups and with the public.

Den här uppsatsen kommer att behandla frågorna: Hur har Skandinaviska Enskilda Bankens fonder; Sverigefond, Europafond, USA Indexfond respektive East Capital?s Rysslandfond utvecklats de senaste sju åren, med avseende på risk och avkastning? Vilken fond har presterat bäst respektive sämst? Ger fonderna med högre risk högre avkastning över tiden? Hur har fonderna presterat jämfört med valt marknadsindex?Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur fonderna har utvecklats åren 2003-2010 och analysera hur fonderna har presterat under perioden. Avkastning och risk är två fundamentala begrepp för uppsatsen ochde olika teorierna som studien grundas på är teorin om det principiella sambandet mellan risk och avkastning, samt Kapitalmarknads-teorin.För att utvärdera de olika fonderna används utvärderingsmåtten Sharpekvot samt Modigliani-Modigliani.Som jämförelseindex används SIX Return Index och som riskfri ränta används en sjuårig statsobligation från 2003.Uppsatsen har en positivistisk utgångspunk och är en kvantitativ och deduktiv ansats. Rådata har erhållits från SEB?s hemsida där historiska fondvärden för alla berörda fonder finns samlade.

In the light of the criticism from the Swedish Consumers? Association towards the actions of modern fund managers on the Swedish Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) market, discussions of change has increased. The reasons underlying a change and communication process are scarcely focused on. Thus, grounded on theories in the fields of Critical Management Studies (CSR), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), change and communication, this study analyses how a change of implementing revised SRI communication is carried out at Handelsbanken Asset Management, existing motives for the change in communication, and how key actors can affect the process. A participant observation and in-depth interviews were carried out enfolding a discussion that contributed with a critical analysis and discussion, concluding external motives to be dominant and that key actors of the change process are influential to a various extent.

To invest money in funds is increasing rapidly in popularity and one of the biggest reasons is that banks are offering a greater range of funds. Information about funds is always easy to find and it is easy to invest money in a fund because the bank takes care of all the management of the fund.The essay examines two funds from two different countries with an aim to choose the one with best potential yield. The first fund is entirely invested in North America and the second fund invests in Asia, with most of its possessions in companies from China. Both these funds invest in wellknown companies in respective region. The essay is limited to compare these funds with data from 2005 to 2009.Information was collected from Morningstar and Avanza Bank for the quantitative examination.

This thesis seeks to explain the effect of private equity ownership on the amount of invest- ments made in a company. We use three capital expenditure based key ratios to determine if there is a tendency for private equity owned firms to invest more or less than comparable companies. Our dataset involve 27 Swedish buyout companies that were sold by a private equity fund between 2001 and 2009. Each buyout is assigned a peer group of two firms in similar size and in the same industry. Firstly, we compare the key ratios to determine potential differences in the level of investment.

We acknowledge the lack of empirical studies of the performance of analyst target prices in the Swedish stock market by examining the profitability of target prices for stocks publicly traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. We use consensus target prices issued between 2006-2010 and create two different strategies to observe the abnormal returns generated during this period. Going long in the top decile stocks with the best target prices and going short in the bottom decile stocks with the worst target prices generates a statistically significant abnormal buy-and-hold return of 8.9%. An active strategy with daily portfolio rebalancing and a timely response to target price changes generates a less significant monthly alpha of 1.4% against CAPM. The results show to be robust against the size effect discovered by Fama and French.

It is a common view that companies should focus on building brands to increase profitability and stabilize cash flows. However, building and keeping brands alive is costly. Many firms spend large sums on branding only because they are supposed to, without knowing if they will actually gain from it. Up to date, there is limited convincing evidence that branding actually contributes to shareholder value creation. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between brand strength and profitability and shareholder value.

Background and research problem: The former highly inflationary property market is currently undergoing a stagnation process. Investors have been used to annual growth figures in double digits,but now this is no longer considered to be a realistic outlook for future years. According to a report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Urban Land Institute, published by Avanza Wealth Management,the three most attractive markets for property investment in Europe are London, Paris and Stockholm. Because of this the authors have focused their investigation on two companies in the London andStockholm. The authors will additionally use an international bank, an estate agent and a consultancy firm for further information, with regards to the property market and risks associated with these typesof investment in particular.