The research presented in this thesis aims to improve our knowledge regarding the impact of privatisation and deregulation of public service type infrastructure industries. In recent years, Australia's industry reform policies have critically relied on rapid deregulation of major utilities such as telecommunication, gas and electricity. Although several industries have been deregulated in the last two decades, our understanding regarding the impact of deregulation on residential electricity market is still developing. In order to accomplish the research, about 400 residential customers were surveyed and their electricity consumption patterns (ECP)were monitored by installing special electronic meters. The findings are discussed in detail. As an implication to policy and practice there is an urgent need for a nation-wide standard,reshaping the practices of the electricity marketing and establishing a time-dynamic ECP monitoring system. Another important implication concerns the well-founded theories in micro-economic literature. This research has established that the price of the commodities and services charged by public service type utility suppliers should not be left entirely to the market forces concerned with demand - supply equilibrium. There is an urgent need to understand the role of different socio-economic segments in contributing to the economic efficiencies of public service type assets. More efficient segments should be equitably rewarded for their contributions rather than penalised perhaps due to the lack of their bargaining power. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

NA / The purpose for the research is to prove that the further rise of the world economy and China in particular is closely and directly depends on clean energy implementation in energy sector in and development within by countries. The decline of clean energy development will automatically mean the decline of the world economy and energy consumption as well as the rise of China. It’s no secret that adequate, affordable energy is the basis of the operation of any production, and human civilization. Today we no longer think their lives without those technological advances, which today have, but do not think that all these achievements were made possible only through development of new energy and new ways of primary energy production. But it’s not just that. The problem is that the reserves of energy resources, the principal of which remain oil, coal and gas, not infinite. These resources are non-renewable. According to the report of the Expert Commission of the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, oil reserves will be declined by 2015. WRI does not correspond quite tempting future view that while maintaining the current figure of consumption of oil has enough for another 40 or 50 years, because many oil companies about their stocks are great doubts. According to some foreign scholars the world oil reserve are 1800 to 2300 billion barrels. Once oil reverse, increasing cost and labor-intensive production would probably reduce the produced raw materials. This will possibly happen between 2010 and 2014 year. Note the price. At present, in most countries of the world total cost of the electricity is not stated in the tariff, and distributed to the entire society. Costs due to pollution of the environment are also not included in rates, although some countries are trying to enter the “environmental tax”. This situation actually means that life from the future generation, which will take into account of all costs and consequences. Since prices are still low, the government is not especially prepared for the upcoming economic conscience pricked again. Not to mention the role of clean energy in China. China announced plans to increase use of renewable sources of energy, including the wind and the Sun, in an attempt to reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. The Deputy of the national development and Reform Commission of China Chen Demin announced that by 2020, about 15% of the energy would be pure commodities, mainly provided by the expansion projects. Study development of RES in China is now becoming an important aspect for the portrayal of the energy world.

The bluefin tuna have a variety of distinctive anatomical and physiological adaptations that enhance performance. However, our understanding of bluefin tuna physiology is limited by the logistical difficulties of studying these large pelagic fish. This thesis examines some aspects of the metabolic physiology of the southern bluefin tuna. It provides insight into the high-performance, high-energy demand physiology of bluefin. It also examines the metabolic physiology of the mulloway, another important aquaculture species for which physiological information is currently limited. 1. Routine metabolic rate (RMR) of southern bluefin tuna (SBT) (Thunnus maccoyii), the largest tuna specimens studied so far (body mass = 19.6 kg (± 1.9 SE)) was measured in a large (250,000 l) flexible polypropylene respirometer “mesocosm respirometer”. Mean mass-specific RMR was 460 mg kg⁻¹ h⁻¹ (± 34.9) at a mean water temperature of 19°C. When total RMR is added to published values of other tuna species at equivalent swimming speeds, there is a strong allometeric relationship with body mass (654 • Mb ⁰·⁹ ⁵, R ² = 0.97). This demonstrates that interspecific RMR of tuna scale with respect to body mass similar to that of other teleosts, but is approximately 5-fold higher than the standard metabolic rate (SMR) of other active teleost species. 2. This study reports on the first measurements of the metabolic cost of food digestion and assimilation (specific dynamic action, SDA) of a tuna species. Oxygen consumption (MO₂) and swimming velocity of southern bluefin tuna (SBT) (Thunnus maccoyii) were elevated for periods between 20-45 h (longest for the largest rations) post-ingestion of sardines (Sardinops sagax). It is suggested that the purpose of increased swimming velocity was to increase ventilation volume as a response to the enhanced metabolic demand associated with SDA. The magnitude of SDA as a proportion of gross energy ingested (SDA coefficient) averaged 35 ± 2.2 %. This demonstrates that the absolute energetic cost of SDA in SBT is approximately double that recorded in other teleost species. 3. This study examines the effects of sardines (Sardinops sagax) with high- (12.9%) or low- (1.8-4.0%) lipid level on specific dynamic action (SDA) and swimming velocity of southern bluefin tuna (SBT) (Thunnus maccoyii). Fish swam faster during the SDA period with the increase in velocity being greatest for the fish that ingested the high-lipid sardine. Magnitude of SDA was also greater for fish that ingested the high-lipid sardines. However, the energetic cost of SDA as a proportion of ingested energy was not significantly different between fish that ingested the high- (34.3 ± 2.4%) and low-lipid sardines (31.5 ± 2.9%). These results confirm that the high energetic cost of SDA is ecologically relevant. 4. In this study the metabolic and behavioural responses of both fasted and postprandial southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii, SBT) to low dissolved oxygen (DO) was examined. In moderate hypoxia (4.44 and 3.23 mg l⁻¹), swimming velocity (U) and routine metabolic rate (RMR) of fasted fish was mildly enhanced. At 2.49 mg l⁻¹, U increase to over double in the normoxic speed, possibly as an escape response. At 1.57 mg l⁻¹, both U and RMR were suppressed and SBT failed to survive the entire 20 h exposure period. This reveals that SBT are remarkably well adapted to low DO. Feeding did not greatly influence their hypoxia tolerance. In a subsequent experiment there were no significant differences in U, RMR and gastric evacuation rates of postprandial SBT in hypoxia (2.84 mg l⁻¹) compared to those in normoxia (7.55 mg l-¹). 5. In this study, 768 h of simultaneous recordings of metabolic rate (MR, = heat production) and visceral temperature were made in both fasted and postprandial southern bluefin tuna (SBT, Thunnus maccoyii) of two sizes (~10 and 20 kg) and at two water temperatures (~19 and 16°C). Duration and magnitude of specific dynamic action (SDA) were strongly related to duration and magnitude of postprandial visceral warming providing the first empirical evidence of a link between SDA and postprandial visceral warming. Visceral temperature of fasted SBT was also directly related to MR. In this case, source of heat is thought to be metabolic work performed within the red muscles which warmed the viscera through thermal conductance. Visceral excess temperatures were over 1°C warmer in larger than smaller SBT. Better heat retention ability of the larger SBT is likely attributed to improved retia mirabilia development and greater thermal inertia. SBT at 16°C maintained visceral excess temperatures significantly warmer than similarly sized fish at 19°C. This demonstrates some ability of SBT to physiologically regulate visceral warming. 6. In this study, the effect of progressively severe hypoxia levels on the swimming performance and metabolic scope of juvenile mulloway (Argyrosomus japonicus) were investigated. In normoxic conditions (6.85 mg l⁻¹), standard metabolic rate (SMR) and cost of transport were typical for subcarangiform fish species. Mulloway had a moderate scope for aerobic metabolism (5 times the SMR). The critical dissolved oxygen level was 1.80 mg l⁻¹ revealing that mulloway are well adapted to hypoxia. In all levels of hypoxia (5.23, 3.64, and 1.86 mg l⁻¹) the active metabolic rate was reduced however, the critical swimming velocity was reduced only at 3.64, and 1.86 mg l⁻¹. Mulloway metabolic scope was significantly reduced at all hypoxia levels, suggesting that even mild hypoxia may reduce growth productivity. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2007

The motivation for the research described in this thesis is the imperative to minimise energy consumption of buildings in the urban environment. A comprehensive approach to analysing energy usage involves the whole life cycle of buildings and infrastructure including embodied energy consumption. Embodied energy represents all of the energy consumed in the production of building materials and components, as well as the energy used to assemble them into the built form. This thesis describes the development and application of a model which spatially depicts embodied energy as a basis for undertaking more holistic analyses of urban energy consumption. The need for comprehensive analyses of energy consumption is initially explored. Such analyses would enable more favourable energy outcomes to be achieved when making decisions about urban planning and development. Research on the value of representing energy usage in a spatial format is reviewed and the case is made for modelling the embodied energy as a contribution to the broader understanding of urban energy consumption. This thesis concentrates on residential areas of the urban environment. The model for spatially representing the embodied energy consumption of residential areas has three components which are embodied energy theory, property register data and geographical information software. A methodology is described which commences with hybrid embodied energy coefficients, integrates these with property register data for a metropolitan area and displays the results using GIS techniques in the form of maps. The model is general but developed using information pertaining to the Adelaide metropolitan area and tested using data from both Adelaide and Sydney. To show that the model can usefully contribute to life cycle energy analyses in the urban environment, it is applied to three case studies involving current urban planning issues involving the densification of dwellings in cities and the redevelopment of older residential areas. These show that such analyses can represent embodied energy spatially and with sufficient accuracy to inform urban planning and development decisions aimed at reducing overall energy usage. In summary, the research has extended knowledge on the embodied energy of the built form by focusing on residential areas which include urban infrastructure rather than just individual buildings. It has provided new insights into the significance of embodied energy of the existing built form by considering it as a ‘sunk cost’ which may be partially recovered and form part of the energy flows in the urban environment. The mapping of embodied energy of the existing built form also offers the potential for quantifying resources which can be re-used to modify total energy consumption of new developments. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1311795 / Thesis(Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Urban Design, 2008

<p>Problem: What type of messages can be used to make ‘saving the environment’ more appealing to individuals, in order to encourage them to act environmentally friendly?</p><p>Purpose: Our focus is the challenge of convincing consumers to save electricity in the Netherlands. Using two different types of messages, environmental and financial, our aim is to identify which characteristics of marketing messages are more effective when trying to encourage individuals to act environmentally friendly.</p><p>Method: Interviews with relevant organizations are held in order to see what professionals say about the environment and marketing. Questionnaires are distributed to see what the general opinion is and finally a case study is conducted to investigate the effectiveness of several messages on people’s electricity consumption.</p><p>Conceptual Framework: The theory of social marketing is being used, derived from nonprofit marketing. A communication model is applied to the findings, just as the concept of mental accounting.</p><p>Conclusion: Our research showed a clear preference for rational based messages that provide benefit claims, that are one sided messages, which are positively framed, focusing on the personal benefits resulting from the change in behavior and finally people should be able to draw conclusions on their own, but they should be given enough directions in the message to draw their conclusion.</p>

<p>The ambition to lower fuel consumption has been a goal for the vehicle industrysince many years.  During the first oil crisis in the seventies this first came intolight and it has become more relevant during the last years climate change debate.Fuel costs are also an issue.  Reducing lifetime costs, in which fuel is 30 %, givesa competitive advantage to the vehicle producer.  Over the years the drive trainhas been made efficient to the point where a reduction in fuel consumption due toimprovements in the drive train is highly expensive to develop.  The fact that thedriver behavior is a big factor in the vehicle’s fuel consumption has recently comeinto attention.  This master thesis has been performed at Scania in Södertälje andpresents a way to give the driver advice in advance of difficult road segments.  Theadvice will help the driver drive in a fuel efficient manner. Focus is put on a specificcase where the vehicle approaches a downhill and advice is given for the driver tolet the vehicle coast up to the start of the downhill so that the vehicle can regainits speed in the downhill.  The detection of the downhill is made with look-aheadtechnology where a GPS and a digital 3D road map makes the topography of theroad segment ahead available.</p>

<p>Miljö och energianvändning blir ett mer aktuellt ämne. 40 % av landets totala energianvändning går idag till bostäder.[1] Om elpriserna stiger under den närmsta tiden kommer det med stor säkerhet leda till att människor blir mer kostnadsmedvetna och gärna hittar sätt för att minska sina energikostnader. Som ett led i detta har hustillverkare tagit fram ett energisnålt alternativ till det vanliga huset. Det benämns lågenergihus och använder mindre energi än de hus som är vanliga på marknaden idag. Det här är möjligt genom att lågenergihus byggs på ett annorlunda vis jämfört med ett ordinärt hus. Bland annat används mer isolering och bättre fönster och dörrar. Dessutom är täthet ett viktigt begrepp för att minska värmeförlusterna. Rapporten syftar till att redogöra för vad som karaktäriserar lågenergihus och ge vägledning vid byggande av dessa. Vidare ska rapporten ge svar på frågorna, vilka är problemen och vilka är fördelarna med lågenergihus? Hur ser byggprocessen ut och vad är viktigt att tänka på i de olika skedena i processen? samt, är det ekonomiskt rimligt att bygga lågenergihus? För att få svar på dessa frågor har jag använt mig av litteratur, intervjuer samt informationssökning på nätet, dessutom har jag använt mig av de kunskaper som införskaffats under studietiden. I rapporten har jag valt att endast behandla energianvändning då miljöfrågan är alltför omfattande. Vidare ger rapporten en introduktion till vad som är utmärkande för lågenergihus rent byggnadstekniskt och lotsar läsaren genom byggprocessens olika skeden samt vilka aktörer som är inblandade och vilka deras respektive ansvarsområden är. Dessutom pekar rapporten ut vad som är viktigt för dig som byggherre att tänka på under de olika skedena i byggprocessen i form av planering, utformning, konstruktion, installationer, utgifter, försäkringar, kontroller och avtal, vare sig du väljer att uppföra byggnaden i egen regi eller anlita en entreprenör.</p><p>Rapporten ger exempel på lösningar gällande konstruktion, installationer och värmesystem som är lämpliga i ett lågenergihus. Dessutom görs en energiberäkning på ett lågenergihus ritat av författaren till rapporten. Beräkningen ger huset en energianvändning på 56 kWh/m², år, vilket är ca hälften av vad lagar och föreskrifter anger som maximalt värde ett hus får ha. Idéer och tankar som legat till grund för huset beskrivs. Då detta hus ritats har även andra idéer implementerats som inte är specifika för lågenergihus, utan syftar till att huset ska ha en beredskap vid tillexempel elavbrott. I slutet av rapporten ges även tips på hur du som husägare ytterligare kan spara energi och bidra till en hållbar utveckling.</p><p>[1]Gross, Holger (2008). <em>Energismarta småhus: vägledning och råd till byggherrar, arkitekter och ingenjörer</em>. Stockholm: Gross produktion i samarbete med Villaägarnas riksförbund</p><p> </p> / <p>The environment and the use of energy is becoming a more present subject. Today the real estate industry accounts for more than 40% of Sweden’s total energy consumption.[1]As energy prices rise, energy-saving in buildings is becoming increasingly important to homeowners. As result of this, house manufacturers have created a new type of energy-saving house called low-energy house. This house has a different construction in comparison to an ordinary house. The theses aims to give guidance when building a low-energy house and answer the following questions, what are the problems and what are the benefits, which are the different phases of the building process, what issues are important to consider in these phases and is it economically realistic to build a low-energy house. To be able to answer these questions I have collected material from litterateur, interviews, and web searching. In addition I also have used the knowledge I have obtained during my period of studies. The thesis only concern the energy consumption as the environmental part of it is too substantial. In addition the thesis gives a presentation of the building process, who are involved and what are their field of responsibility. Furthermore it points out what you as a future owner of a house/building proprietor should be attentive to during the building process so that no mistakes are made that causes the end results not turning out as expected. Different laws, rules, contracts, norms and authorities that occurs in the building process,  are accounted for and explained in the thesis in such a way that is easy to grasp for those not familiar to the subject.</p><p> </p><p>The report gives advice and example of solutions in terms of construction and installations e.g. heating distribution system that are appropriate in a low-energy house.</p><p>The thesis includes a calculation of the energy use of a low-energy house, which shows that the house uses about 56 kWh/m², year. In comparison, this is about half the maximum limit decided by the Swedish constitution BBR.</p><p> </p><p> A suggestion for a low-energy house is displayed in the paper, it is the same housed used for the calculation of energy use. Ideas and thoughts regarding the house are described. This suggestion also implements a few ideas’ that perhaps contributes additionally to energy-savings and a sustainable environment.</p><h2><em> </em></h2><p>[1] Gross, Holger (2008). <em>Energismarta småhus: vägledning och råd till byggherrar, arkitekter och ingenjörer</em>. Stockholm: Gross produktion i samarbete med Villaägarnas riksförbund</p>

<p>This thesis described socioeconomic inequalities in fruit and vegetable consumption in Stockholm County.<strong> </strong>A comparative descriptive analysis was carried out with the use of secondary data from the 2006 Stockholm County Public Health Survey. The data was analyzed through cross tabulations that were conducted in SPSS.<strong> </strong>The findings showed that people with high socioeconomic position consumed fruit and vegetables more frequently than those of low socioeconomic position. Differences in fruit and vegetable consumption were found for the three measures of socioeconomic position; education, occupation and income. These differences were pronounced to a larger extent across different education levels compared to levels of occupation and income. Further research is needed to investigate which factors may explain the observed differences.</p>

<p>The work aims to clarify what nautical officers onboard in today's merchant can do to help reduce bunker consumption during the voyage? The question we have asked ourselves during the autumn term in 2008 much was said about the premium bunker prices, and how the future could affect our daily lives as nautical officer. We felt here that the school had relatively little knowledge of the subject and therefore felt that it would be interesting to identify how it really looks like onboard the ships today. To collect information we contacted 7 Swedish companies that operate with different types of vessels, in order to get a broad picture of the whole industry. For shipping companies we asked questions about how actively they were working on the issue and what methods they used. We found that the owners worked with the issue but that it so far was a little on the go. All but one company in the survey provided the vessels are instructed to run bunker efficiently.</p> / <p>Arbetet syftar till att klarlägga vad nautikerna ombord i dagens handelsfartyg kan göra för att reducera bunkerförbrukningen under pågående sjöresa? Frågan ställde vi oss eftersom det under höstterminen 2008 talades mycket om de ”skyhöga” bunkerpriserna och hur de i framtiden skulle påverka vår vardag som nautiker. Vi kände att det på skolan fanns förhållandevis lite kunskap i ämnet och tyckte därför att det vore intressant att kartlägga hur det verkligen ser ut ombord i fartygen idag. Främst gällande direktiv till befälen rörande bunkerreducerande metoder.</p><p>För att få underlag för arbetet kontaktade vi 7 stycken svenska rederier som är verksamma med olika typer av fartyg, detta för att få en bred bild av hela sjöfartsbranschen. Till rederierna ställde vi frågor om de aktivt arbetade med frågan och i så fall vad de använde sig av för metoder. Vi kunde konstatera att redarna arbetade med frågan men att det än så länge låg lite i startgroparna. Alla utom ett rederi i undersökning gav fartygen instruktioner om att köra bunkereffektivt.</p>

<p>In the following C-Level Thesis, the geographically isolated consumer society that has evolved in the developed world is examined through discourse analysis. This research frames the issue of material consumption in a historical context and then interrogates the modern task of sustainability. Through review and analysis of current discourse in the sociopolitical field of sustainable consumption, this paper critically analyzes the development of modern consumer culture. The concept of ecological citizenship is presented and inspected as an effective strategy for the realization of sustainability and is viewed as a unifier of the many conflicting discourses on sustainable consumption. The dominant institutional discourse of ecological modernization is presented through a review of UK policy documents, and the opinions as well as alternative solutions touted by critics is noted. This paper finds that ideal of ecological citizenship has not yet been reached, but positive steps have been taken to achieve the goal of sustainability through curbing consumptive habits. In this presentation of sustainable consumption discourse it is important to recognize that there may be no absolute answer or right way to live on this planet, but rather, many ways which can, together, bring about a sustainable society.</p>