In the metallurgical industry and in refineries and process industries, there is significant amount of waste heat, it is a challenged field to do the research for producing electricity from the energy of waste heat. Traditionallay, Organic Rankine Cycle(ORC)is used for generating electricity from low temperature heat source. Recently researchers are focusing on the supercritical Rankine cycle which uses CO2 as working fluid for which is more environmental friendly working fluid, possilbe reduced size and better utilization of lower temperature heat source.Currently this technology is under development and there is no manufacturing of this technology that can be observed. In this Master's thesis, the overall environmental impacts caused by the CO2 supercritical cycle will be evaluated:1. What are technologies available for producing electricity from low temperature heat?2. What is the electricity that can be generated from a given amount of heat and what type of equipment is needed for this?3. What are the environmental and resource impacts of this type of equipment, based on analyses of similar types of equipment?4. what is the environmental benefit from energy generation comparing with other fossil and renewable electricity production? 5. A brief economic analysis cosidering the waste heat electricity generation

Eco-Lighthouse (Miljøfyrtårn) is a Norwegian environmental certification scheme adminis-trated by the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation (Stiftelsen Miljøfyrtårn). In connection with the release of ISO 26000 – Guidance on social responsibility, the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is considering the possibility of integrating more social responsibility into the certification scheme. The Eco-Lighthouse scheme consists of 72 sets of requirements, as per April 16, 2010. The first set of requirements – Requirements for all branches (Krav til alle bransjer) – applies to all organisations regardless of activity. The remaining 71 sets of requirements consist of branch specific requirements. For an organisation to get an Eco-Lighthouse certification it needs to fulfil Requirements for all branches as well as at least one set of branch specific requirements.The aim of this study is to investigate to what extent the content of ISO 26000 can be found in the branch requirements of the Eco-Lighthouse scheme. Due to the time limitation of the study only three sets of requirements are investigated; Requirement for all branches and branch specific requirements for Office activities and Main offices.The method chosen for investigation is a mixture of three different analysis methods. Docu-ment analysis to examine the content of ISO 26000 and identify criteria that can be compared with Eco-Lighthouse requirements, thematic analysis is used to link Eco-Lighthouse require-ments to ISO 26000 criteria, and gap analysis is used to highlight the differences between the two standards.ISO 26000 is organised in seven core subjects; Organisational governance, Human rights, Labour practices, The environment, Fair operating practices, Consumer issues, and Commu-nity involvement and development. The core subjects are subdivided into issues, except in the case of Organisational governance. The Eco-Lighthouse requirements investigated in this study can mainly be found in three core subjects; Organisational governance, The environ-ment, and Labour practices. Within the core subject The environment, Eco-Lighthouse score highest in the issues: Prevention of pollution and Sustainable resource use. Within Labour practices, an especially high score is found in Health and safety at work since many of the requirements are based on Norwegian laws and regulations.The main focus of the Eco-Lighthouse scheme is on environmental issues relating to internal processes of the organisation. That is management, working environment for the employees, purchasing and material use, energy consumption, transportation, and emission and waste management. There is also some focus on upstream suppliers in the value chain but nothing concerning the downstream end of the value chain. There are many environmental impacts connected with the use phase and end-of-life phase of a product. This corresponds to the ISO 26000 core subject of consumer issues.The result of the analysis was presented and discussed together with representatives of Fokus Bank, who were participating in the development of the branch requirements for main offices. In their opinion it is important to focus on the whole value chain and therefore they would like to see requirements which ensure that companies take responsibility for their products and services even after they have left the company, i.e. when used by costumers and finally dis-carded. However, it is also important that the implementation of those requirements focuses on essentials. If the cost of implementing actions to meet the requirements is too high in rela-tion to the environmental and societal benefits, companies might as well refrain from certify-ing themselves.As a provider of an environmental certification scheme, the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is recommended to extend the scheme to include producer responsibility for products and ser-vices provided by the certified organisations. The Eco-Lighthouse Foundation is also recom-mended to clearly define how far social responsibility reaches for an environmental certifica-tion scheme. Today the Eco-Lighthouse scheme includes requirements concerning working conditions for employees, which are not considered an environmental issue in ISO 26000. A possible solution would be to develop a new scheme concerning social responsibility. This would be especially beneficial if the Eco-Lighthouse Foundation decides to extend their certi-fication service further into non-environmental issues.

Much of the current research into the sustainability of the fisheries and aquaculture industry has focused on achieving continued growth. The report “Value creation from productive oceans,” makes annual growth predictions of 4% for aquaculture and 7% for the marine ingredients sector from 2010 to 2050. The Norwegian government incorporated these growth rates into a political vision presented to parliament as Meld.St.22 “the world’s foremost seafood nation.” Among many ambitions presented in Meld.St.22, three were chosen as being particularly relevant to industry ecology: import reliance, utilization of by-products and sustainable growth. These ambitions were tested along with the 4 and 7% growth rates from the “Value creation from productive oceans,” report using the industrial ecology methodology of material / substance flow analysis. The MFA/SFA model of the fisheries and aquaculture system used a multi-layered approach with a product weight layer as the base and EPA + DHA as the substance layer. Results for import reliance suggest that Norway is 88% reliant on imports (product weight) for aquaculture and 55% for marine ingredients (EPA + DHA). The model estimated that imported Peruvian Anchoveta represented approximately 50% of the EPA + DHA in Norwegian aquaculture feed and 55% for marine ingredients in 2012. By-product utilization was found to be nearly 100% for the aquaculture and pelagic sectors, 34% for whitefish species and nearly zero for macroalgae and marine mammals. The overall by-product utilization rate for Norway, including all Norwegian landed marine fish, zooplankton, macroalgae and marine mammals was 62% for product weight. Sustainability was assessed from an industry, consumer and general environmental perspective. Sustainability from an industry perspective was evaluated using a demand and supply forecast for EPA + DHA. Growth rates of 4% for aquaculture and 7% for marine ingredients were used to model the future supply and demand relative to the system calculated values in the base year (2012). Results suggest a shortage of EPA + DHA within two years and a 45% deficit in demand by 2020. The future EPA + DHA shortage was independently confirmed by a study performed by EWOS using similar parameters and assumptions. The whole fish FIFO for fish oil was calculated to be 1,3 kg of whole forage fish required for 1 kg of whole salmon. The efficiency of seafood deliverables indicator (ESD) was created to add an element of efficiency to the sustainability of seafood from a consumer perspective. The aquaculture industry was found to require 3,22 kg of EPA + DHA per kg of EPA + DHA delivered to consumers as seafood, while the wild fishery sector required 1,76 / kg. The overall findings suggest that EPA & DHA are critical nutrients for: Fish health, human health, industry growth and consumer preferences. The challenge posed by the worsening shortage of EPA & DHA will affect the sustainability of the industry and dialogue concerning realistic growth prospects is suggested.

Disputats, Göteborgs universitet, 2009. / Med litteraturhenvisninger.

<p>Årsakene til at mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming utvikler utfordrende atferd er mange og sammensatte. Biologiske, psykologiske og miljømessige faktorer bidrar hver for seg eller sammen til at atferden oppstår. Uri Bronfenbrenners økologiske modell for sosial utvikling beskriver faktorer som kan påvirker atferd. Det handler om nære relasjoner og om omkringliggende systemers innvirkning på relasjonene. Studiens hensikt har vært å beskrive kommunalt ansatte omsorgsgiveres erfaringer med økologiske faktorers betydning for å kunne mestre og forebygge for utfordrende atferd hos mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming. Åtte omsorgsgivere fra seks ulike omsorgsmiljøer har blitt intervjuet om sine erfaringer. Studien er gjennomført etter kvalitativ forskningsmetode. Materialet har blitt samlet inn og analysert etter hermeneutisk tilnærming. Omsorgsyternes erfaringer med økologiske faktorers betydning i omsorgsarbeidet er tydeliggjort i fem beskrivningskategorier: Tøff hverdag, Ulik tilnærming - nesten samme praksis, Ulike miljøer, Trygt arbeidsmiljø og Lukkede miljøer. Studien viser at økologiske faktorer påvirker forekomst av utfordrende atferd hos mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming. Bevisstheten om de enkelte faktorenes betydning kan bidra til å utvikle forebyggende tiltak i omsorgsmiljøene.</p> / <p>The causes behind the development of challenging behaviour in people with learning disability are numerous and complex. This type of behaviour is prompted by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental variables. The ecological model proposed by Uri Bronfenbrenner for social development describes variables that can influence behaviour, mainly the close relations between people and how surrounding systems influence those relations. The purpose of this study is to describe how caretakers, employed by various municipalities, have used ecological factors and drawn experience from them in handling and preventing challenging behaviour in people with learning disability. Eight caretakers from six different environments have been interviewed on their practical experience. The study has been carried out with qualitative research techniques. The material has been collected and analyzed according to a hermeneutical approach. The caretakers` experience of the importance of ecological factors in the caregiving tasks is demonstrated in five description categories: Difficult daily tasks, Different approach- almost same practice, Different environments, Safe working environment and Closed environments. The study demonstrates that ecological factors influence the incidence of challenging behaviour in people with learning disability. Being conscious of the importance of the various factors may promote the development of preventive measures in the caretaking environments.</p>

Disputats. Rheinische Friedrick-Wilhelms-Universität, 2000. / Haves kun i elektronisk udg.

Årsakene til at mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming utvikler utfordrende atferd er mange og sammensatte. Biologiske, psykologiske og miljømessige faktorer bidrar hver for seg eller sammen til at atferden oppstår. Uri Bronfenbrenners økologiske modell for sosial utvikling beskriver faktorer som kan påvirker atferd. Det handler om nære relasjoner og om omkringliggende systemers innvirkning på relasjonene. Studiens hensikt har vært å beskrive kommunalt ansatte omsorgsgiveres erfaringer med økologiske faktorers betydning for å kunne mestre og forebygge for utfordrende atferd hos mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming. Åtte omsorgsgivere fra seks ulike omsorgsmiljøer har blitt intervjuet om sine erfaringer. Studien er gjennomført etter kvalitativ forskningsmetode. Materialet har blitt samlet inn og analysert etter hermeneutisk tilnærming. Omsorgsyternes erfaringer med økologiske faktorers betydning i omsorgsarbeidet er tydeliggjort i fem beskrivningskategorier: Tøff hverdag, Ulik tilnærming - nesten samme praksis, Ulike miljøer, Trygt arbeidsmiljø og Lukkede miljøer. Studien viser at økologiske faktorer påvirker forekomst av utfordrende atferd hos mennesker med psykisk utviklingshemming. Bevisstheten om de enkelte faktorenes betydning kan bidra til å utvikle forebyggende tiltak i omsorgsmiljøene. / The causes behind the development of challenging behaviour in people with learning disability are numerous and complex. This type of behaviour is prompted by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental variables. The ecological model proposed by Uri Bronfenbrenner for social development describes variables that can influence behaviour, mainly the close relations between people and how surrounding systems influence those relations. The purpose of this study is to describe how caretakers, employed by various municipalities, have used ecological factors and drawn experience from them in handling and preventing challenging behaviour in people with learning disability. Eight caretakers from six different environments have been interviewed on their practical experience. The study has been carried out with qualitative research techniques. The material has been collected and analyzed according to a hermeneutical approach. The caretakers` experience of the importance of ecological factors in the caregiving tasks is demonstrated in five description categories: Difficult daily tasks, Different approach- almost same practice, Different environments, Safe working environment and Closed environments. The study demonstrates that ecological factors influence the incidence of challenging behaviour in people with learning disability. Being conscious of the importance of the various factors may promote the development of preventive measures in the caretaking environments.