This paper aims to examine how and to what extent, a transition of Sweden according to the principles of Omställning Sverige (Transition towns Sweden), have the potential to contribute to a society with increased happiness.The paper is based on a qualitative textual analysis of the key texts in the Swedish Transition towns movement, Omställning Sverige. In the first part of the study the most important transition principles of Omställning Sverige were identified. Four key principles emerged: An altered view of economics, a spiritual change, a stronger local community and increased awareness. These transition principles were then analyzed through the lens of the scientific fields position on happiness, followed by a summarizing conclusion.The altered view of economics which Omställning Sverige advocates, where Sustainability and quality of life are priorities over economic growth, is even necessary to secure our basic physiological needs. Such an economy has also improved conditions for economic stability, high employment and higher efficiency in the sense of happiness promoted in relationship to how many natural resources are used.

Under de senaste 15 åren har modeindustrin växt och blivit både snabbare och billigare och begreppet fast fashion har etablerats. Fast fashion är en affärsstrategi inom modeindustrin vars mål är att reducera ledtiderna från idé till butik. Strategin syftar till att tillfredsställa kundernas begär av de senaste trenderna på mycket kort tid. Fast fashion branschen kan sägas stå i motsägelse till en hållbar utveckling, då den representerar korta modecykler där kläder tenderar att bli ?slit och släng? varor.

Syfte: Ingen kan hävda att de har missat den pågående klimatdebatten med ett fokus på den globala uppvärmningen. En ökad medvetenhet om miljömässig hållbarhet har bidragit till en integration av etisk beslutsfattning in i organisationer. Studiens syfte är att undersöka hypotesen att CSR leder till ett ökat fastighetsvärde. Vi ämnar även få en ökad förståelse för hur motivation påverkar etisk beslutsfattning och CSR.Metod: Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ ansats inom ramen för en fallstudie. Empiriskt material har samlats in genom semi-strukturerade intervjuer med beslutsfattare inom den svenska fastighetsbranschen.

The trend in milk production is similar in Sweden and across the world; the farms are getting fewer but increasingly bigger. The costs for hiring workers are increasing, which results in more cows per animal keeper. Sensors can then be a great tool for keeping track of animals which need special attention. With a reported decreasing fertility, sensors that can detect oestrus even at low levels can be especially helpful in bigger herds to pinpoint the cows that may be in oestrus. The number of farms with dairy cows that install AMS, Automatic Milking Systems, are increasing, and that also increases the need for sensors to control milk quality and composition when there is no visual control of the milk by a milker before milking starts.For the sensor data to be useful you have to have software designed to analyze and interpret the data to get relevant information that the farmer can use.

Under de senaste åren har intresset för miljö ökat och den har fått allt större utrymme i media. En del av uppståndelsen grundar sig i USA?s f.d. vicepresident Al Gore´s engagemang i klimatfrågan, vilket medfört att både privatpersoner och företag har fått upp ögonen för miljö och miljöarbete. Företagen har i allt större grad känt att de måste aktivt jobba för miljön främst för att de känner en press från sina intressenter.

In the year 1800, about 5 % of the world population lived in cities (World Wide Fund for Nature, 2012, 3). Today that number is about 70 % in Europe and North America, and in 2050 it is expected to be 86 % in the developed world and 67 % in the developing world (www, UN, 2009). In addition, the global population is expected to increase with 2.2 billion people until 2050. As a result of the population increase more food has to be produced which requires more transport from the countryside to the cities. However, this flow of resources faces some difficulties.

Beräkningar visar att det med nuvarande befolkning och en västerländsk levnadsstandard behövs upp till sju jordklot för vår försörjning. Tillsammans förbrukar USA och Europa 2/3 av jordens resurser varav flera därtill redan är överutnyttjade. Jordens nuvarande befolkning förbrukar i dagsläget 120 % mer av jordens resurser än vad som är hållbart. Med den västerländska människans nuvarande genomsnittliga livsstil förmår jorden bara försörja en miljard innevånare på ett hållbart sätt.Ofta är energieffektiviseringar och energibesparingar de lösningar som föreslås för att lösa de problem som det medför. Naturligtvis är det viktigt att spara energi men de tekniska lösningar som finns för att energieffektivisera kan inte ensamma utgöra en lösning.

Allt fler privata och institutionella investerare väljer att placera pengar i etiska fonder. Fondbolag världen över erbjuder sina kunder att investera i fonder som går i enighet med sina egna moraliska värderingar. Redan under 1700-talet kom idén om att investera etiskt. Syftet med denna typ av ekonomisk förvaltning har dock förändrats något de senaste decennierna. Idag råder det inget tvivel om att åsikter går isär om vilka bolag som bör få ingå i en etisk fond.Den tidigare forskningen visar att fondförvaltarna främst använder sig av två metoder när de avgör vilka bolag som skall ingå i de etiska fonderna.

How the renovation of the vast Swedish existing building stock with renovation needs will be performed is considered as decisive in order to achieve the target set by the Swedish government of reducing the energy use by 20 percent by 2020. Consequently, the challenge of the building sector consists in reducing the energy use in the existing building stock but at the same time ensuring that the indoor environmental quality is improved and the cultural values are maintained.So far, there have been a few renovation projects which strongly have reduced the energy use and at the same time have taken into account the environmental aspects and the cultural values. The main reasons are that there have been few incentives and a lack of routines in order to steer efficiently a ?sustainable renovation?.The participants in a Nordic project on sustainable renovation thought that it would be a strong advantage to link the concept of sustainable renovation to the Miljöbyggnad certification system. Indeed it is trusted by the Swedish building and construction sectors and can provide Sustainability targets in order to steer renovation processes.The objective of the master thesis is to show how the Miljöbyggnad certification system could be integrated in practice in the renovation process of Riksbyggen, an organization which administers housing associations (Bostadsrättsföreningar) and build houses.

Malmö Kommunala Bostadsbolag Fastighets AB owns and administrates Örtagården housing estate in Rosengård which is a characteristic million programme housing area. Örtagården is densely populated which naturally creates an environment that is exposed to wear and tear. The area is today undergoing a change where new proposals and strategies are to be designed for further development of the inner yards. MKB also wishes to develop the park area which is centrally situated in Örtagården. The purpose of this study was to make an analysis of the development of Örtagårdsparken from when it was planned and constructed up until the state it is in today.

Hammarby Sjöstad is a new district of southern Stockholm built with focus on reduced environmental impact by recirculation of materials and Sustainability. The environmental goals aim to cut the water consumption by half and a separate storm water treatment. Thus, the wastewater will be more concentrated and will originate from the households only. The Sjöstad project includes the idea of a local treatment plant for the household wastewater. To evaluate this possibility, Sjöstadsverket, an experimental treatment plant was constructed.

The expansion of the Swedish hydro power has contributed positively to the reduction of the environmental impacts from the fossil fueled power production. In the same time the extensive expansion has been proved to cause negative ecological and local environment impacts of a stream. This, in turn, has been affecting the biodiversity and fish stock negatively, which has been reduced. One of the underlying problems is the lack of possibility for the fish to pass the plants, but it is also directly correlated to the mortality rate of the fish passing through the turbine, which this study is investigating.The mortality rate has been computed for three different locations in Sweden, Untra, Tännfallet and a third one whose location is confidential, and is denoted as Case 1, 2 and 3. The model used to calculate the mortality rate in this investigation is based by existing blade strike models and knowledge and are investigating the death due to mechanical injuries from collision with a runner blade in the turbine.

This thesis was commissioned by Tekniska verken, Energy Division with the overall aim to investigate the concept of environmental debt and what it means for a business. Furthermore, a sustainable risk and responsibility investigation shall be carried out on the concerned areas. Finally, the priority areas shall be highlighted and proposed actions presented. The Swedish Environmental debt concept was presented in 1992 by Arne Jarnelöv. Environmental debt is defined as restoration costs for environmental damage. In the early days the concept did not take into account who was responsible, but the environmental debts was regarded as a humanity debt to future generations.

Our planet is faced with enormous challenges as the extreme weather events related to the human-caused climate change continue to gain strength. The scale of the problem has made changing human behaviour the central focus of sustainable development, and both public and private sector are expected to gain relevant expertise and introduce this work in their agenda. Over its 40-year history, social marketing has become an established field providing tools for social change, but compared to health promotion, Sustainability has not been a major focus of social marketing research so far. At the same time, sustainable lifestyles are embedded in complex systems where both individual factors and those of physical and social environment play a defining role in their adoption. Communities are a good example of such environments, and they became the key focus of Community-Based Social Marketing, which combines different insights from psychology to suggest a step-by-step framework for crafting behaviour change campaigns. However, it has not been applied to larger and diverse communities, like cities, and has not focused on sustaining new behaviour over time, which is crucial for creating sustainable lifestyles.

SAMMANDRAGLerums kommun har en vision om att bli Sveriges ledande miljökommun till år 2025 eller tidigare. En stor del av arbetet, som kännetecknas av hållbarhet, kreativitet och inflytande, sker i Gråbo. Det är idag en ort som känns bortglömd och är lätt att passera utan vetskap om dess placering. Samhället har såväl synliga baksidor som är i behov av förbättring och förnyelse, som outnyttjade tillgångar som bör lyftas fram.Syftet med föreliggande arbete är att ta fram förslag på hur Gråbo kan förbättras både med avseende på hållbar samhällsutveckling samt estetiska och funktionsmässiga förbättringar av samhället.Arbetet påbörjades med en faktainsamling, som sedan låg till grund för en inventering på plats i Gråbo. Detta sammanställdes till en analys där tillgångar och problem presenterades med hjälp av Adobe Illustrator till flera kartor.