This Master degree project has been performed at the Braviken paper mill on papermachine 53 (PM53) which produces newsprint paper. The current economic situationhas contributed to declining demand for newsprint, which means it is extra important tobe competitive by high energy efficiency. Particularly as energy prices are expected torise when the economic growth returns.One way to increase energy efficiency is by reducing the water use in paper and pulpmills and consequently save energy through reduced heating of water. The thesis's maintask is to evaluate whether a water purification plant (microflotation plant) forpurification of process water in PM 53 is profitable. The microflotation plant enablesreuse of warm process water instead of losing the energy to receiving waters.

This essay is a study of the market strategies and situations in the telephone business. Our problem was to examine the telecom companies´ strategies to stay competitive and cope with the new VoIP technology. We chose to do a qualitative study and four telephone interviews were made with Swedish and Dutch companies. We investigated three different categories of companies in the market; industry leaders, cable companies and broadband companies to get a broad view of the market. The theory chapter is based on different strategies that companies have to or can apply to get ahead, stay or survive in a hypercompetition.

The report comprises two separate parts:part 1:  Temperature needs for district heating in the paint shop for axles in building 210part 2:  Energy and low temperature waste heat solutions in heating and cooling systems for   building 64 with surroundingsThe paint shop for axles in part 1 has air quality requirements in places for coating of axles. Toachieve desired air properties there are different process ventilation systems, which consist ofventilation coils for heating and cooling, plus air humidifier. The ventilations coils for heating usedistrict heating. Today the ventilation coils use water of 100°C to achieve necessary air demands inthe coating boxes. This part of the report investigates whether the existing system would achievethe air requirements with a water temperature of 75°C instead of 100°C in the ventilation coilsduring the coldest parts of the year.

Thermia Värme AB is one of the market leading manufactures of heat pumps. In order tomaintain this position, the company wants to improve the vibration characteristics of theirproducts. The aim of this thesis is to develop product design changes that lead to a reductionof vibrations in the heat pump Thermia Diplomat 8.The main cause for vibrations in the system is flow pulsation and mechanical forces inducedby the scroll compressor. Vibration is transmitted through the compressor piping and receivedby the heat exchangers, from where it is further transmitted to the connection points for theradiator and heat source circuits.A number of design changes in order to improve the vibration characteristics have beenevaluated through calculations and practical experiments. The changes have included thecompressor and heat exchanger mountings, the compressor suction and discharge line pipingand also pulsation dampening.The results of the experiments show that the vibration levels in the connections for the heatingand brine circuits can be decreased strikingly through changes in suction and discharge linepiping.

An Internet application, VEDAIR, for estimation of air quality in regions with small-scale combustion of bio fuel has been developed by Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute with financing from Swedish Energy Agency and Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. The model contains user interface and a coupled model concept where concentrations of atmospheric pollutions are calculated for regional, urban and local contributions. In this report the model is described and a first study of air quality considering PM10 (particles with a diameter less than 10 µm) in two Swedish municipalities, Vänersborg and Gnosjö, is introduced.According to the result, there are areas with poor air quality even in smaller Swedish municipalities, mostly due to high emission from buildings with older wood heating furnace without hydraulic accumulator.In Vänersborg three areas were analysed in VEDAIR for the year 2003: Vargön, Mariedal and the downtown district. In the whole municipality the upper evaluation threshold for PM10, which is defined as 14 µg/m3 for annual average, was exceeded due to background contribution of particles. In all areas, however, the concentrations of PM10 were less than the environmental quality norms.

In Sweden there are 354 000 private individuals owning forest. Of these forest owners there are at least two thirds that are self-employed, which means that about 215 000 forest owners conduct some kind of work in their own forest. Those numbers do not refer to firewood production, but every year 7.3 million piled cubic meters of firewood are used for heating Swedish households. This implies that many households are also producing firewood. The objective of this study was to assess and analyse the small-scale firewood production in the Umeå-region in terms of persons engaged in the work, equipment used, produced volumes and share of forest-owning households involved in these activities. According to results from a questionnaire, the average firewood producing person is a man between 40-60 years old.

Umeå Energi are working towards a goal, that in the year of 2018, they will be completely climate neutral. As a part of this, one target is to reduce their grid losses by 4 % of the 2012 level, which corresponds to an overall reduction of the grid losses of just over 1.7 GWh. In many residential areas, the distribution grid is designed and rated for electric heating as the heating in the houses. As many of the houses later has been converted to other types of heating, their electricity use has decreased and the total power output from many of the secondary substations has decreased significantly. Because of this, many of these stations today are well oversized, which in turn means that the energy losses in these stations are unnecessarily high.In this degree project, 25 secondary substations have been studied, all located in residential areas in and around central Umeå.

In this paper we have examined why seniors do not use e-business to the same extent as other age groups. Seniors belong to the age group that, according to statistics from Statistics Sweden (SCB) in 2011, utilizes e-business the least in relation to the number who use the internet. To understand how seniors reason and perceive the possibility to shop on the internet, we have conducted four interviews with people from 65 years and older. We have let the respondents answer questions regarding utility aspects, e-business interfaces, general shopping habits, risks, and whether or not they usually shop online. We also found out how seniors reason when they sell products and services.

This diploma work on D-level is made in cooperation with Varnäsföretagen AB in Eskilstuna. The company performs contract manufactured aluminium goods. This work is a continuation on earlier diploma work in Varnäsföretagen AB. Even if the industry process consumes much energy for melting the aluminium goods, they consume a great amount of oil to warm up the building. The purpose of this work is to examine some places in the building and the process to see how much energy it is possible to recycles to the heating system and reduce the costs for heating.

Energy-wise houses in Järinge - technical follow-up The company JM built energy-efficient houses in Tensta in Stockholm. They have built a total of 16 houses divided into two parts of A-houses and B-houses. The buildings are an attempt by JM to minimize energy-use of the buildings without affecting the comfort and living standards. The project aims to examine the data for the 16 houses on the basis of data and produce a report showing how the buildings worked through a technical perspective. JM approximates that the purchased energy will not be higher than 95 kWh/m2 per year.

During our formative years, technology has always had a natural part of everyday life, and for us technology has never been particularly gendered. If this depends on the climate and the attitude of our homes, ourselves, the combination of both or something completely different is a question we have asked ourselves at times. But our approach to technology does not seem as obvious to all women, and today the IT industry is heavily dominated by men. This has meant that we have asked the question whether there is any underlying reason why so few women opt for IT courses? Is there a link between how different IT organizations profiles and the prevailing gender ratio? The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is any connections between how IT organizations are related to gender issues and how the structures, attitudes and gender actually looks like in the IT industry today, and how this can be seen in their branding efforts.

The company Olofsfors AB manufactures drive belts for forest machinery, known as ECO-Tracks, and abrasion-resistant steel and cutting edges for graders, excavators and tractors, known as Bruxite and SharqEdges. Manufacturing these products requires the steel to be heated and molded, then submerged in water and hardened. The water used in the hardening of steel is pumped to the process from pits below the floor and then pumped back to the pit after it?s been used. Since the temperature of this water rises after being used to harden the steel the temperature of the pumping pit needs to be adjusted to maintain its setpoint of 21°C.

This study examinates technology's traumatic impact on the male subject in The Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard. In my analysis I show how the protagonist uses a fetischistic strategy in order to make sense of the trauma that technology embeds. Paradoxically it proves to be the agent of his trauma, but also functions as his shield. The machine is thus in a position of the hinge, the point in a structural system that both enables and deconstruct the system.

The housing sector of today represents for almost 40% of the energy consumption, an energy consumption of which the major part consists of non-renewable energy sources. This is not sustainable and utilization of new energy-efficient technologies in buildings can be a step in the right direction, towards a sustainable energy society.This report has been made on behalf of and in cooperation with Älvstranden Utveckling AB in Gothenburg to examine how future energy-efficient technologies can affect the energy demand in energy-efficient multi-dwelling buildings.The report is based on Älvstrandens passive house, Hamnhuset, a house whose energy consumption is far below the BBR's requirements. The report looks at the opportunities for improvement within windows, insulation, solar energy technologies, as well as white goods. Computer simulations are then made to apply the selected technologies into a reference building. Technologies are selected from an energy efficient perspective and no account has been taken of other aspects such as the economy.

This report describes a thesis done at the Jönköping University of Technology. The aim of this thesis was to create conditions to optimize an existing automatic electrostatic coating system by changing the technology for dispensing lacquer. To select the technology, a study of different dispensing techniques carried out which concluded that the piezoelectric membrane and electrostatic atomization are the most interesting techniques.In order to perform tests with dispensing techniques a demonstrator has been optimized. The controller and PC software of the demonstrator has been programmed to be able to send out PWM signals that control the dispensers. An adapter card was designed to control the piezoelectric membrane and a steering link to the electrostatic atomization has been developed for PWM signals up to 500V.The work has laid ground for a demonstrator where further testing of the dispensing technologies can be performed..