Carbon offsetting means to offset those greenhouse gases that are caused by our actions. The purpose of this paper is to examine how companies are working with Carbon offsetting. The focus of the research is how travel agencies and companies that provides Carbon offsetting. The writers also highlight the problems Carbon offsetting is facing. The study was performed with qualitative methods through interviews with three companies working with Carbon offsetting.

Idag är det få som motsäger sig att människan är ansvarig för de klimatförändringar vi börjat uppleva. Globala överenskommelser visar sig vara svåra att formulera men regioner såsom EU har infört handeln med utsläppsrätter och allt fler enskilda nationer och verksamheter sätter nu upp egna mål för reduktioner av skadliga utsläpp. Vissa verksamheter går steget längre och har skapat interna kompensationssystem för sina aktiviteters klimatkonsekvenser. Studien har med hjälp av kvalitativa intervjuer undersökt sex verksamheter i Sverige som frivilligt valt att klimatkompensera internt. Här presenteras bakgrunderna till det interna valet, hur arbetena utformats liksom vilka lärdomar som kan dras från deras erfarenheter.

Private individuals can voluntarily buy EU Allowances (EUA) in order to remove them from the European Union Greenhouse Gas Emission Trading System (EU ETS). It leads to progressive reduction of total carbon dioxide emissions in Europe. Kalmar Energi offers customers to obtain one EUA (equivalent to one ton of CO2) per year by paying 25 SEK a month as a KlimatEl-supplement. The purpose of this research is to examine the customers? attitudes in the issue of climate compensation and trying to define the reasons behind their choices.The results of the quantitative questionnaire were analyzed by using descriptive and analytical statistical methods and have shown some correlation between customers? ages and decisions to accept or not the offer of KlimatEl.

Glulam is a product that was engineered to make use of timber in a more efficient way. Bychoosing timber of similar quality and discarding natural defects during production, thedevelopment of a stronger cross-section is achieved.Carbon fiber is a relatively new material with a high tension capacity. This feature is used toexamine how the bending capacity of the beams improve by adhering carbon fiber laminateson the lower edge of the beamsThe strength of the material is tested with three experiments: carbon fiber on the bottom of thebeam (a), carbon fiber attached to the lower sides of the beam (b) and carbon fiber in thebeam, covered with a layer of wood (c)The results show that the first case, where the carbon fiber is attached to the bottom of thebeam, gave the best result with an increase in capacity of 59 % compared to the nonreinforcedcontrol. The other two cases also show an improvement in capacity, beam-type 3had a capacity increase of 47% and beam-type 4 increased with 25 %Tests were also made with glulam beams reinforced with fiberglass, but these tests were notanalyzed in depth because the purpose was to compare the capacity to carbon fiber. Thisbeam improved its capacity by 40.3%.The tests show that carbon fiber as a reinforcement material for glulam is a good choice whenthere is a requirement for stronger cross-sections in both new production and renovation ofold buildings.

Freshwater ecosystems have long been neglected as an important part of the global carbon cycle. However, research shows that most of the world?s lakes are net-heterotrophic and consequently emitters of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. In many boreal and north-temperate lakes, most of the yearly emissions usually occur in spring, shortly after ice-thaw. The aim of this study was to quantify the flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) in three boreal lakes, during this annual event.

Sapa Heat Transfer is a company that produces aluminum heat-exchanger strips for the automotive industry. Sapa Heat Transfer wish to chart their emissions of carbon dioxide in order to meet future demands on carbon dioxide reporting. They also would like to examine the meaning of the term ?green electricity? which is marketed as carbon dioxide free, and the sort of electricity that they purchase. This report includes both direct (liquefied petroleum gas and diesel) and indirect (water, process-water, long distance heating, waste) emissions from their company.

The goal with this examination thesis is to investigate the difference in carbon dioxide emissions between a building with a wooden versus concrete carcassing from a life cycle perspective. The huge amounts of carbon dioxide released into air from human activities must be reduced to prevent serious consequences. A way to limit this issue is through performing a comparative study where the result shows which of two products with the same function has the lowest emission of carbon dioxide, whereof the product with the lowest carbon dioxide pollution can be chosen.To be able to perform a study like this an object has been chosen and studies about life cycle analyses have been done. The rental square meter, the thermal conductivity value, the energy requirements and the placement of the building has been set equal in both framework types. There were solely dissimilarities of the two buildings taken into account when this comparison study was performed.The result of the study is that a building constructed with a wooden carcassing has the lowest amount of carbon dioxide emissions.

Total organic carbon (TOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) are two methods used for measuring organic pollutants in wastewater. Both methods are widely used but the COD method results in production of hazardous wastes, including mercury.The purpose of this study was to validate the method TOC that will replace COD and find a factor to convert TOC to COD. In this study 26 samples were analyzed from four sewage treatment plant in the municipality of Enköping.The results show that the COD method could be replaced by the TOC method.The factor for COD/TOC was between 3.1 - 3.3. Both methods will be used in parallel until 2013 when it will be forbidden to use the COD analysis..

Today, about 15 to 20 percent of Sweden?s total emission of carbon dioxide can be traced to the household sector. By examining apartment blocks in a life cycle perspective, the origin of the carbon dioxide emission has been charted and analyzed. This information has been used to create a computational model that calculates the total emission of carbon dioxide from a specific apartment block. The results from the analyzed apartment blocks indicate that both the use of energy and the emission of carbon dioxide have been reduced since the 1960s. Through the examination of building materials, it is possible to lower the emission of carbon dioxide that origins from the construction phase of an apartment block.

Energy Director is a control and measuring system for energy consumption and is part of the product portfolio of E.ON AG for more efficient use of energy, offered to business customers. As of today, the system has only one parameter of control, namely power, and the objective of this essay has been to investigate whether other ones could be added. The emphasis is on the environmental perspective, which is why carbon dioxide has served as an example for this parameter in question.Parallel with the study of Energy Director electricity on the margin, calculations of carbon dioxide equivalents and also the Swedish trade of electricity have all been highlighted. Results indicate that when reductions in energy are made it is endorsed to omit from electricity on the margin rather than some mean distributed electricity, under certain conditions, and in addition the calculations of the reductions should be modified regarding the efficiency of the power stations fuelled by lignite and bituminous coal. Sweden practices trade with the Nordic countries as well as Poland and Germany.

According to the theory of environmental Kuznets curve there is a relationship between carbon emissions and GDP. The relationship has an inverted U-shape. Carbon emissions rise initially and then decreases once a certain level of GDP is obtained.This essay interprets earlier studies in the field of environmental economics and uses public choice to seek answer on how the population acts on aggregate level. This essay analyses 115 countries in cross-sectional data. The analysis shows that there is a significant relationship between carbon dioxide emissions and GDP that is increasing at first and then decreases for a certain level of GDP.

Climate change has become an increasingly topical subject. Recently debate on how our food affects the environment has flared. It has been shown that how the food we eat is grown and transported could be one the bigger contributors to the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The aim of this study is to see how consumer?s choices of vegetables affect release of carbon dioxide. The results show that emissions of carbon dioxide can be lowered by consuming vegetables that have been grown on open land. Vegetables that have to be grown in heated greenhouses in Sweden should perhaps be exchanged for such that have been grown in unheated greenhouses in southern Europe, even though the transport distance is significant. .

Today most ice rinks in Sweden use secondary refrigeration systems with a solution of calcium chloride and water as secondary refrigerant. Due to the large amount of energy such a system uses more efficient systems would be desired.An earlier study concluded in the possibilities of using carbon dioxide as secondary refrigerant with copper tubes as the loops in the ice rink. Since then 3 ice rink refrigeration systems has been built with carbon dioxide in copper tubes. Excluding the ones being direct involved in those projects there is still very little knowledge about how these system works. This study has been made primarily with the aim of adding to the knowledge concerning availability and cost and secondary to look at possibilities for improvement.A comparison between systems with carbon dioxide, calcium chloride respective ammonium solved in water has been made by using Decision Matrix.

The research group Soil and Water Management at the department of Soil and Environment at theSwedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala are studying greenhouse gas emissions fromcultivated peat soils. To measure carbon dioxide emissions from peat soils in the field the researchgroup are now using two portable carbon dioxide meters (Vaisala GMP343). For practical reasons,they plan to acquire a new type of automated field meter. The aim of this study is to evaluate thepresent meters to see how environmental conditions and instrument settings affect the results,which is meant to facilitate the introduction of the new field meter when the meters needs to becompared. As a part of the study the relationship between groundwater level and carbon dioxideemissions from peat soils will be investigated.The evaluation of the two carbon dioxide meters was made by connecting them to one single airtightsystem, with the aim of creating identical measurement environments.

Coastal sediments are important carbon sinks, storing organic matter and thereby helping to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. However, they can also act as carbon sources if the deposited organic matter decomposes rapidly, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Rapid decomposition partly depends on the degradability of the material itself. In this literature review, I examine which coastal plant species dominate different locations along the Swedish coast, based on coverage data from the ClimScape project (www.climscape.se). For the most dominant species, I investigated the type of organic matter they may contribute to the sediments and based on those results I qualitatively assessed which sites that may function as carbon sinks or sources.