The attention on environmental issues has never been as huge as today. The climate is changing and more and more evidence suggest that the cause behind climate changes is an increase of carbondioxide into the atmosphere. The increase in turn is considerd to be an act of human activity. Therefore some companies have decided to become climate neutral and implement information technology in their business in order to reduce their emissions. This thesis has three aimes: to calculate a small company´s carbondioxide emissions, study whether or not information technology could help to reduce these emissions and furthermore find out why some companies decided to become climate neutral and describe the concept climate neutral.

This is a study concerning the conventions surrounding death and it´s rituals during the latter half ofthe 21th century. The study´s main material is the official magazine of SBF - Sweden´s funeral association ? Memento. By studying the undertaker and the self-image of his services at an intervalof years from 1945 to 2005, one is able to notice certain changes of values concerning what afuneral, a chest and a tombstone really is ? or rather how the meaning of these symbols of death slowly shifts from the ?dignity? of death towards the self-expression of the individual.In the 1940´s towards the 80´s, there is much talk of giving the dead a ?dignified? funeral and burial, and this is how the undertaker defends himself against public critique of his or her´sprofession´s ?trade with death?.

Consumers today leave a fragment of information when they pay with their debit and credit cards. The aim of our work is to investigate ways to design a concept of a system in which digitally stored information that today is fragmented among several different holders, can be assembled into a system and made available to consumers. In our study of how a system for financial flow of information should be designed, we intend to study the present situation and the attempts made to alter it into a more informative reality. We intend to investigate the flow of information when a consumer pays by card, and the possible solutions regarding the design and transportation of digital receipts. A majority of the information of our digital consumption is today handled digitally.

Computer programs must give a technical effect that goes beyond"normal physical interaction"to be considered to belong to a technical field. The invention shall be be susceptible of industrial application, which means that it should be possible to reproduce or use in any other industrial way. The reqirement that the invention shall be new means that the technique must not be previously known because of patents, published articles, etc. That an invention shall be a contribution to the state of the art in a technical field means that the invention shall not be obvious to invent for a person skilled in the art. Patents do effect the innovation among the inventers, but in most industries most inventions would be invented independent if there was a patent system or not.

The purpose of this essay is to draw attention to the obstacles that affects the internal trade of waste within the EU. The essay doesn?t in any way encourage pollution or illegal handling of waste but unfortunately there are large profits to be made from illegal destruction and recycling of waste and especially hazardous wastes. Therefore the dependable companies handling waste must access a market with fast and flexible (but predictable) regulations as well as lower transaction costs to help make the environment better and encourage a strive for increased recycling. There are examples where some waste only can be sent to a land-fill within the country but could be recycled in other EU-countries.

Payday loans are becoming a challenge of increasing gravity for society. Statistics show that the number of young adults with financial issues related to such loans has been growing over the past few years. Despite efforts to halt this trend, little is changing. Government mandated warning labels in commercials are typically used to inform about the risks associated with the consumption of certain goods and services, such as alcohol and tobacco. Despite issues related to payday loans, there is currently no legislation in Sweden mandating the inclusion of warnings in marketing of such loans.

Sustainable design - a study on sustainable design and its incentives and barriersThe purpose of this study was to investigate the incentives and barriers existing within companies focusing on eco-design. The aim was also to examine the consumers? thoughts on eco-design and sustainable products. A further aim was to try to concretize important lessons for future work on sustainable production and consumption. Two methods were used for completing this study; a literature study and a practical study consisting of interviews with companies focusing on eco-design and a survey among students.

This bachelor?s thesis examines costs of welfare services in municipalities of the region of Västra Götaland in Sweden. Previous research provided reasons to expect a link between costs of welfare services and demographic changes. Furthermore, Willam J. Baumol?s theory about ?the cost disease? also provided reasons to expect a link between welfare services and salary levels.

In today?s world urbanisation is an on-going process, cities are growing and becoming denser, and places for recreation gain value. Therefore, urban parks are much appreciated by people living in cities. When the first public parks where planned, their main function was to increase health, hygiene, education and social life. In the middle of 19th century the meaning of public parks to people?s wellbeing gained attention and parks were planned to provide space for lively activities. This paper focuses on parks? activities.

External shopping malls in the context of urban sprawl have, according too much of the previous research, had a negative connotation when it comes to urban planning and a sustainable society. In recent years, some of this research on the issue has changed course towards that it might be some positive opportunities and elements in this development, given that it follows certain patterns. This latter development is what we have chosen to look deeper into in our study, Sustainable urban sprawl.The shopping mall Allum in Partille center has been the subject of this case study, to explore how people's shopping habits and travels in connection with these purchases has been affected by the establishment of an external shopping mall from a sustainability perspective.The method we used was a questionnaire distributed at workplaces in Partille. The collected data were then analyzed by using some of the dominant urban planning theories, for thus underpin our analysis. We have supplemented the study with a collection of information on existing and planned shopping centers in Gothenburg region.Our study shows that external shopping centers located in already developed areas, with an existing social structure, can help to create a more compact city with fewer and shorter shopping trips, and more sustainable transport choices when purchasing goods and services..

This report describes the construction of a climate-cabinet for testing of HV-cards (High Voltage) produced at VG Scienta. The main part of the report describes all the different components of the cabinet. The most important parts are a PID regulator from Eurotherm model 2408, a solid state contactor (SSC), a thermocouple, a finned resistor from DBK and different fans. The report even includes the connection between components by cable wiring, isolation, grounding, fuses and shaping of metal goods.As the cabinet also communicates with a computer, the report includes the solution of the data communication using the software iTools from Eurotherm. The communication part includes information about a converter that converts EIA422 to USB.The cabinet was produced at a company, called VG Scienta, in Uppsala during the spring 2010.

This thesis examines the deregulation reform of the Swedish railroad industry, focusing on passenger transport between 1988 and 2005. The purpose of the thesis is to examine the effects from the deregulation reform on prices, market concentration and to determine whether SJ (the state owned incumbent) has been conducting strategic behaviour in order to prevent new entrants to the market. The chosen method consists of interviews with the MD at SJ between 1988 - 1998 Mr Karl-Erik Strand, the transportation researcher at SSE Mr Gunnar Alexandersson. Statistical sources and companies financial reports have also been used. The results that I have found were besides the fact that the market concentration is still significant high and the profitability among the operators low, is that the prices has increased more than CPI during the period but the competitive tendering has resulted in lower government subsidies after the deregulation.

The design of the building envelope affects the energy consumption of a building. As the energy requirements for new buildings are becoming more demanding, the performance of the building envelope must be improved. Energy efficiency and durability are important attributes to consider.This report includes investigations of the building envelope, moisture and passive solar energy. It is based on the analysis of two different buildings with different designs. These buildings stand as reference for two of the companies who are working on a new, climate smart, residential area in Uppsala, Sweden.Studies and analyses on energy consumption and moisture transportation were made.

The ferry traffic to Gotland is essential for the island?s ability to live and develop. Yearly, it transports 1,6 million passengers, 500 000 personal vehicles and 750 000 lane meters of freight with four Ro-Pax ferries. The traffic is controlled and subsidized by the Swedish government since 1971 in order to guarantee the inhabitants and industry of Gotland a satisfactory transportation service. As a consequence of the past decades increased traffic quality, mainly due to a decrease in crossing times, the traffic?s environmental impact and costs has also increased.The Master Thesis proposes a new energy efficient traffic arrangement that satisfies the users? preferences in the same extent as today.

The purpose of this study was to examine two relatively similar product industries, of which one is successful in its commercialization and the other one is not successful. The two industries observed in this paper are both Swedish industries, and both of them produce slow moving consumer goods for the luxury consumer. The successful industry is represented by the Swedish fashion industry, more precisely The Swedish Fashion Wonder (TSFW) - a term describing the success of a specific coalition of fashion designers from Sweden. The unsuccessful industry is represented by the luxury watch industry in Sweden (LWIS). The method used to examine the two industries' inequalities is based on a qualitative study, consisting of in-depth interviews with industry expertise from both of the industries.