Two weeks before the Copenhagen summit on climate change, China officially made a pledge to cut its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent below 2005 level by 2020. The thesis has tried to look into the quality and quantity concern of this pledge made by the biggest CO2 emitter in the world. From the existing projections on China’s business as usual (BAU) scenarios to 2020, there are no unanimous conclusions showing whether there is additionality in China’s pledge to reduce 40-45% of its carbon intensity between 2005 and 2020. Further analysis on selected results, we have found scenarios of two frequently cited authorities, namely IEA and EIA are, to some extent, misinterpreted regarding their references/current policies scenarios. On the other hand, several more typical BAU scenarios, like Garnaut’s and ReMIND-R, predicted much lower than 40% reduction rate in the period of 2005-2020. China’s pledge seems achievable with certain extra effort, comparing with historical pathways of several OECD countries, including U.S., Japan, Germany, and Korea. The average period in these four countries to go through China’s abatement path is around 21 years. From a global prospect, China’s pledge is impressive but not enough to address the climate change issue. The biggest uncertainty inherited in the pledge is the uncertain peak year of absolute emissions. The critical movement beyond 2020 pledge is to peak its absolute CO2 emissions as early as possible. Such a challenging target shall be set as no later than 2030 according to our overviews on the related literature.

The purpose of this thesis is see if national policies regarding aimed at combating climate change could work even if international ones, such as the Kyoto Protocol, are considered to fail. The question was if environmental policies could be included as an explanatory variable for the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). The environmental polices of interest were the market-based instrument, environmental taxes.   First, the hypothesis whether or not Sweden fit the EKC theory is tested, and this proves to be the case when looking at the years 1800-1996. Second, a hypothesis was tested to see if environmental taxes can help decreasing carbon emission intensity further once a country has reached its turning point. Comparing Sweden to six other countries from the European Union show that this is the case, although environmental taxes must be one of many tools and cannot work alone.   The study shows that the role of taxes were significant, thus showing their importance for the work on climate change. It is also observed that national policies do work, while regional, or international, ones are harder to conduct. The importance of national policies is enhanced since they will be guiding countries when deciding whether or not to commit to international policies.

In recent decades, the environmental issues from the construction sector have attracted increasing attention from both the public and authorities. Notably, the bridge construction is responsible for considerable amount of energy and raw material consumptions. However, the current bridges are still mainly designed from the economic, technical, and safety perspective, while considerations of their environmental performance are rarely integrated into the decision making process. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a comprehensive, standardized and internationally recognized approach for quantifying all emissions, resource consumption and related environmental and health impacts linked to a service, asset or product. LCA has the potential to provide reliable environmental profiles of the bridges, and thus help the decision-makers to select the most environmentally optimal designs. However, due to the complexity of the environmental problems and the diversity of bridge structures, robust environmental evaluation of bridges is far from straightforward. The LCA has rarely been studied on bridges till now. The overall aim of this research is to implement LCA on bridge, thus eventually integrate it into the decision-making process to mitigate the environmental burden at an early stage. Specific objectives are to: i) provide up-to-date knowledge to practitioners; ii) identify associated obstacles and clarify key operational issues; iii) establish a holistic framework and develop computational tool for bridge LCA; and iv) explore the feasibility of combining LCA with life cycle cost (LCC). The developed tool (called GreenBridge) enables the simultaneous comparison and analysis of 10 feasible bridges at any detail level, and the framework has been utilized on real cases in Sweden. The studied bridge types include: railway bridge with ballast or fix-slab track, road bridges of steel box-girder composite bridge, steel I-girder composite bridge, post tensioned concrete box-girder bridge, balanced cantilever concrete box-girder bridge, steel-soil composite bridge and concrete slab-frame bridge. The assessments are detailed from cradle to grave phases, covering thousands of types of substances in the output, diverse mid-point environmental indicators, the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and monetary value weighting. Some analyses also investigated the impact from on-site construction scenarios, which have been overlooked in the current state-of-the-art. The study identifies the major structural and life-cycle scenario contributors to the selected impact categories, and reveals the effects of varying the monetary weighting system, the steel recycling rate and the material types. The result shows that the environmental performance can be highly influenced by the choice of bridge design. The optimal solution is found to be governed by several variables. The analyses also imply that the selected indicators, structural components and life-cycle scenarios must be clearly specified to be applicable in a transparent procurement. This work may provide important references for evaluating similar bridge cases, and identification of the main sources of environmental burden. The outcome of this research may serve as recommendation for decision-makers to select the most LCA-feasible proposal and minimize environmental burdens. / <p>QC 20150311</p>

Today agriculture sector has a big contribution to the development of economy for many countries. Irrigation is a method which supplies amount of water required in proper time to the cropped land and contributes to the increases of agriculture productivity. Using diesel pump to deliver water to the place of use causes problems both in terms of profitability and environmental perspectives. Higher price of diesel increases operation costs of diesel water pumping system thereby reducing the incomes. In addition the use of diesel pump emits a huge amount of CO2 emissions which cause global warming. A possible solution to those problems is to use solar energy, a source of energy which is environmental friend and available for free. The main target of this thesis is to design and optimize a cost effective PVWPs considering three alternatives with tank storage, battery storage and a system without storages medium. The two areas in Eastern province of Rwanda were taken as case study to grow coffee and cassava with five hectares each. To run simulations, different tools have been used. Those includes CROPWAT to determine water requirements for two crops; MS Excel to design a PVWPs directly connected to irrigation system, make economic analysis, evaluate CO2 emissions and calculate other parameters. Furthermore in PVsyst software the design and simulation for PVWPs with storages medium has been carried out.  Results showed that using PVWPs directly connected to irrigation system is the most profitable way when compared to the rest two alternatives.  They also showed that systems designed to irrigate coffee becomes the most profitable due to huge amount of electricity surplus and higher price per kilogram of coffee. Finally fully replacement of DWPs results in annual reduction of CO2 emissions by 6.6 tonnes. Keywords: Photovoltaic system, storages medium, pumping system, economic analysis, reduction in CO2 emissions.

This dissertation treats a topic that has received increasing attention as of late, namely that of the environment and in particular increasing levels of CO2 emissions caused by transport. The aim of the dissertation is to explain how a shipper, through various measures, can reduce transport-related CO2 emissions when centralising a distribution system and how this affects the provision of cost efficient customer service. Earlier research has stated that this type of structural change is considered unfavourable from an environmental viewpoint as it increases the amount of transport work generated by the system and thereby transport-related CO2 emissions. The argument that is made in this dissertation, however, is that transport work is only one aspect to consider when evaluating how transport-related CO2 emissions are affected by this type of structural change. The reason for this being that a change in structure and management of the same can enable a shipper to make other changes within the distribution system that can prove beneficial from an environmental perspective as they decrease the amount of CO2 emissions per tonne kilometre. Theoretically, the dissertation has its foundation in two different areas in logistics research. The first area concerns logistics and the environment, where the frame of reference examines measures discussed in previous research with reference to how a shipper can reduce CO2 emissions related to transport. The second area treated in the frame of reference concerns how costs and service are affected by the structural change of centralising a distribution system and how this relates to the measures discussed in the first part of the framework. From a methodological viewpoint, the dissertation is based on case studies. These are presented in four appended manuscripts (a licentiate thesis and three papers), where the results of these studies are used as empirical input for the synthesising analysis that is led in the dissertation. A key deliverable from the research presented in this dissertation is a classification of measures that increase transport-related CO2 emissions and measures that decrease transport-related CO2 emissions when a distribution system is centralised. By presenting this classification, the dissertation extends previous research on the environmental impact of various logistics strategies, where centralised distribution is an example of such a strategy. With regards to this classification, it is concluded that a shipper that seeks to centralise its distribution system in a more CO2 efficient manner will aim to identify a structural configuration that minimises the increase in transport work. This is imperative as there is a close link between transport work and CO2 emissions. Hence, a CO2 efficient centralised distribution system will include more central warehouses than that advocated by earlier research on centralised distribution. This in turn implies that a shipper may not reach the full potential in economies of scale as advocated in earlier research. However, such a configuration will simultaneously lead to less transport work, whereby a shipper will be able to offset the increase in transport work by employing measures that decrease the amount of transport-related CO2 emissions per amount of transport work. The results also indicate that in addition to reducing transport-related CO2 emissions, some of these measures come with a cost incentive. By employing such measures, a shipper can come to compensate for the potential loss in economies of scale caused by employing a structural configuration that seeks to minimise the increase in transport work rather than to maximise economies of scale. By this means, the dissertation contributes to research on centralised distribution by considering how a reduction in transport-related CO2 emissions is interrelated with the provision of cost efficient customer service.

Embora o uso do cimento Portland com altos teores da fase alita [silicato tricálcico - C3S – (CaO)3.(SiO2)] seja difundido mundialmente, argumentos ambientais indicam a fabricação de cimentos com baixos teores desta fase e altos teores da fase belita [silicato dicálcico - C2S, (CaO)2.(SiO2)] justamente ao contrário do que é produzido atualmente. A alita tendo mais cálcio que a belita, libera mais CO2 para a atmosfera quando ocorre a decomposição do calcário (CaCO3 CaO + CO2 ) durante sua fabricação. Além disso, o C2S é formado a uma temperatura mais baixa (800 a 900ºC) que a temperatura em que o C3S (1350 a 1450ºC) é formado, necessitando desta forma, menos combustível e produzindo um cimento de moagem mais facilitada, tornando-o mais eco-eficiente. Um aspecto negativo dos cimentos belíticos é que os mesmos atingem seu nível máximo de resistência em idades mais avançadas, e este comportamento não é considerado adequado na indústria da construção civil atual, que busca alta produtividade em um curto espaço de tempo. Uma maneira de eliminar este problema seria acelerando as reações iniciais de hidratação e endurecimento. Uma alternativa à esta questão é combinar estes clínqueres belíticos com agentes expansivos de base sulfoaluminato ou em uma produção simultânea no clínquer, tais como os sulfoaluminato de cálcio belítico (CSAB), sendo estes ligantes considerados de baixo impacto ambiental. No entanto, o cimento CSAB requer uma maior quantidade de alumina, que geralmente é provinda da bauxita na sua fabricação. Devido ao elevado custo da bauxita para a produção deste cimento, a utilização de resíduos ricos em alumina é uma opção que pode agregar valor ao resíduo e aumentar a disponibilidade de ligantes de reduzido impacto ambiental. Desta forma, este trabalho apresenta uma alternativa para utilização do resíduo na produção do cimento CSAB. Foi realizada a caracterização físico-química do resíduo estudado, e são apresentados os resultados da produção de clínqueres CSAB formados a partir de três misturas, com variações no teor deste resíduo. As propriedades físico-mecânicas destes clínqueres foram avaliadas e comparadas com um clínquer referência e um cimento Portland comercial, da mesma forma, técnicas de difração de raio X, calorimetria e termogravimetria foram utilizadas para verificar a formação dos produtos de hidratação de pastas. Desta maneira, foi demonstrado que o aproveitamento do resíduo de anodização do alumínio para a produção do cimento CSAB é viável tecnicamente. O produto gerado possui características especiais, apresentando elevado desenvolvimento da resistência mecânica nas primeiras horas de hidratação. / Although currently Portland cement with high alite [(CaO)3.(SiO2)] content is the most used globally, environmental advices call for changes on the production for cements with lower alite and higher belite [(CaO)2.(SiO2)] contents. Alite, having more calcium than belite, releases more CO2 to the atmosphere in the course of cement manufacture, due to limestone decomposition (CaCO3 CaO + CO2 ). Besides, belite is formed at lower temperatures (800- 900ºC) than alite (1350-1450ºC), and for this reason less fuel is necessary for the process. Additionally, clinker is easier to grind, resulting in a less energy demanding and more sustainable process. However, belite cements reach the maximum strength level at later ages, drawing back the fast and active civil construction industry, which aims high productivity in a short time spam. In order to minimize this problem it is possible to accelerate the initial hydration reactions and hardening by combining the belite clinkers with expansive sulfoaluminate base agents, or in a simultaneous clinker production, such as calcium sulfoaluminate belite cements (CSAB). These binders have lower environmental impact. However, CSAB cement requires a higher amount of alumina, which comes from bauxite. As this material is costly, the use of alumina-rich residues comes as an option to aggregate value to the residue and to increase the availability of low environmental impact binders. This work presents an alternative use for alumina-rich residues in CSAB cement production. Physicochemical characterization of the aluminium anodizing sludge is presented together with results of the production of CSAB clinkers from 3 mixtures, with different residue content. Properties of the produced clinkers were evaluated and compared to a control clinker and to an ordinary Portland cement. X-ray diffraction, calorimetry and thermogravimetry analysis track the formation of hydration products in the cement pastes. The use of aluminium anodizing sludge to produce CSAB cement was proved to be technically viable, as the generated product has special characteristics, presenting high mechanical strength development at the first hours of hydration.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the causal relations between energy use, CO2 emissions and economic growth for Sweden. Vector Error Correction model with annual data from 1970 to 2016 has been used in order to determine potential causality between the variables. The empirical findings indicate that in the long-run, causality relationship between energy consumption, CO2 emissions and economic growth cannot be rejected and it is bidirectional. This means that energy is a determining factor for economic growth in Sweden and that applying policies in order to reduce the CO2 emissions has slowed down economic growth in Sweden. This finding is consistent with the Feedback Hypothesis. But in the short-run no causality was found between energy and economic growth. According to Granger causality test results, bidirectional causality between CO2 emissions and energy consumption cannot be rejected in the short-run. Variables’ trends show that in the period under study, energy consumption and economic growth have moved in the same direction; meaning that higher energy consumption has led to higher economic growth. At the same time, lower CO2 emissions have been accompanied by higher economic growth. There is also short-run causality running from capital to economic growth according to VECM results. It can be suggested to the policy makers that in order to maintain economic growth and reduce environmental degradation, energy consumption should be shifted gradually from nonrenewable sources to renewable ones so to avoid decrease in economic growth and ensure lower levels of CO2 emissions in the long-run.

Embora o uso do cimento Portland com altos teores da fase alita [silicato tricálcico - C3S – (CaO)3.(SiO2)] seja difundido mundialmente, argumentos ambientais indicam a fabricação de cimentos com baixos teores desta fase e altos teores da fase belita [silicato dicálcico - C2S, (CaO)2.(SiO2)] justamente ao contrário do que é produzido atualmente. A alita tendo mais cálcio que a belita, libera mais CO2 para a atmosfera quando ocorre a decomposição do calcário (CaCO3 CaO + CO2 ) durante sua fabricação. Além disso, o C2S é formado a uma temperatura mais baixa (800 a 900ºC) que a temperatura em que o C3S (1350 a 1450ºC) é formado, necessitando desta forma, menos combustível e produzindo um cimento de moagem mais facilitada, tornando-o mais eco-eficiente. Um aspecto negativo dos cimentos belíticos é que os mesmos atingem seu nível máximo de resistência em idades mais avançadas, e este comportamento não é considerado adequado na indústria da construção civil atual, que busca alta produtividade em um curto espaço de tempo. Uma maneira de eliminar este problema seria acelerando as reações iniciais de hidratação e endurecimento. Uma alternativa à esta questão é combinar estes clínqueres belíticos com agentes expansivos de base sulfoaluminato ou em uma produção simultânea no clínquer, tais como os sulfoaluminato de cálcio belítico (CSAB), sendo estes ligantes considerados de baixo impacto ambiental. No entanto, o cimento CSAB requer uma maior quantidade de alumina, que geralmente é provinda da bauxita na sua fabricação. Devido ao elevado custo da bauxita para a produção deste cimento, a utilização de resíduos ricos em alumina é uma opção que pode agregar valor ao resíduo e aumentar a disponibilidade de ligantes de reduzido impacto ambiental. Desta forma, este trabalho apresenta uma alternativa para utilização do resíduo na produção do cimento CSAB. Foi realizada a caracterização físico-química do resíduo estudado, e são apresentados os resultados da produção de clínqueres CSAB formados a partir de três misturas, com variações no teor deste resíduo. As propriedades físico-mecânicas destes clínqueres foram avaliadas e comparadas com um clínquer referência e um cimento Portland comercial, da mesma forma, técnicas de difração de raio X, calorimetria e termogravimetria foram utilizadas para verificar a formação dos produtos de hidratação de pastas. Desta maneira, foi demonstrado que o aproveitamento do resíduo de anodização do alumínio para a produção do cimento CSAB é viável tecnicamente. O produto gerado possui características especiais, apresentando elevado desenvolvimento da resistência mecânica nas primeiras horas de hidratação. / Although currently Portland cement with high alite [(CaO)3.(SiO2)] content is the most used globally, environmental advices call for changes on the production for cements with lower alite and higher belite [(CaO)2.(SiO2)] contents. Alite, having more calcium than belite, releases more CO2 to the atmosphere in the course of cement manufacture, due to limestone decomposition (CaCO3 CaO + CO2 ). Besides, belite is formed at lower temperatures (800- 900ºC) than alite (1350-1450ºC), and for this reason less fuel is necessary for the process. Additionally, clinker is easier to grind, resulting in a less energy demanding and more sustainable process. However, belite cements reach the maximum strength level at later ages, drawing back the fast and active civil construction industry, which aims high productivity in a short time spam. In order to minimize this problem it is possible to accelerate the initial hydration reactions and hardening by combining the belite clinkers with expansive sulfoaluminate base agents, or in a simultaneous clinker production, such as calcium sulfoaluminate belite cements (CSAB). These binders have lower environmental impact. However, CSAB cement requires a higher amount of alumina, which comes from bauxite. As this material is costly, the use of alumina-rich residues comes as an option to aggregate value to the residue and to increase the availability of low environmental impact binders. This work presents an alternative use for alumina-rich residues in CSAB cement production. Physicochemical characterization of the aluminium anodizing sludge is presented together with results of the production of CSAB clinkers from 3 mixtures, with different residue content. Properties of the produced clinkers were evaluated and compared to a control clinker and to an ordinary Portland cement. X-ray diffraction, calorimetry and thermogravimetry analysis track the formation of hydration products in the cement pastes. The use of aluminium anodizing sludge to produce CSAB cement was proved to be technically viable, as the generated product has special characteristics, presenting high mechanical strength development at the first hours of hydration.

Embora o uso do cimento Portland com altos teores da fase alita [silicato tricálcico - C3S – (CaO)3.(SiO2)] seja difundido mundialmente, argumentos ambientais indicam a fabricação de cimentos com baixos teores desta fase e altos teores da fase belita [silicato dicálcico - C2S, (CaO)2.(SiO2)] justamente ao contrário do que é produzido atualmente. A alita tendo mais cálcio que a belita, libera mais CO2 para a atmosfera quando ocorre a decomposição do calcário (CaCO3 CaO + CO2 ) durante sua fabricação. Além disso, o C2S é formado a uma temperatura mais baixa (800 a 900ºC) que a temperatura em que o C3S (1350 a 1450ºC) é formado, necessitando desta forma, menos combustível e produzindo um cimento de moagem mais facilitada, tornando-o mais eco-eficiente. Um aspecto negativo dos cimentos belíticos é que os mesmos atingem seu nível máximo de resistência em idades mais avançadas, e este comportamento não é considerado adequado na indústria da construção civil atual, que busca alta produtividade em um curto espaço de tempo. Uma maneira de eliminar este problema seria acelerando as reações iniciais de hidratação e endurecimento. Uma alternativa à esta questão é combinar estes clínqueres belíticos com agentes expansivos de base sulfoaluminato ou em uma produção simultânea no clínquer, tais como os sulfoaluminato de cálcio belítico (CSAB), sendo estes ligantes considerados de baixo impacto ambiental. No entanto, o cimento CSAB requer uma maior quantidade de alumina, que geralmente é provinda da bauxita na sua fabricação. Devido ao elevado custo da bauxita para a produção deste cimento, a utilização de resíduos ricos em alumina é uma opção que pode agregar valor ao resíduo e aumentar a disponibilidade de ligantes de reduzido impacto ambiental. Desta forma, este trabalho apresenta uma alternativa para utilização do resíduo na produção do cimento CSAB. Foi realizada a caracterização físico-química do resíduo estudado, e são apresentados os resultados da produção de clínqueres CSAB formados a partir de três misturas, com variações no teor deste resíduo. As propriedades físico-mecânicas destes clínqueres foram avaliadas e comparadas com um clínquer referência e um cimento Portland comercial, da mesma forma, técnicas de difração de raio X, calorimetria e termogravimetria foram utilizadas para verificar a formação dos produtos de hidratação de pastas. Desta maneira, foi demonstrado que o aproveitamento do resíduo de anodização do alumínio para a produção do cimento CSAB é viável tecnicamente. O produto gerado possui características especiais, apresentando elevado desenvolvimento da resistência mecânica nas primeiras horas de hidratação. / Although currently Portland cement with high alite [(CaO)3.(SiO2)] content is the most used globally, environmental advices call for changes on the production for cements with lower alite and higher belite [(CaO)2.(SiO2)] contents. Alite, having more calcium than belite, releases more CO2 to the atmosphere in the course of cement manufacture, due to limestone decomposition (CaCO3 CaO + CO2 ). Besides, belite is formed at lower temperatures (800- 900ºC) than alite (1350-1450ºC), and for this reason less fuel is necessary for the process. Additionally, clinker is easier to grind, resulting in a less energy demanding and more sustainable process. However, belite cements reach the maximum strength level at later ages, drawing back the fast and active civil construction industry, which aims high productivity in a short time spam. In order to minimize this problem it is possible to accelerate the initial hydration reactions and hardening by combining the belite clinkers with expansive sulfoaluminate base agents, or in a simultaneous clinker production, such as calcium sulfoaluminate belite cements (CSAB). These binders have lower environmental impact. However, CSAB cement requires a higher amount of alumina, which comes from bauxite. As this material is costly, the use of alumina-rich residues comes as an option to aggregate value to the residue and to increase the availability of low environmental impact binders. This work presents an alternative use for alumina-rich residues in CSAB cement production. Physicochemical characterization of the aluminium anodizing sludge is presented together with results of the production of CSAB clinkers from 3 mixtures, with different residue content. Properties of the produced clinkers were evaluated and compared to a control clinker and to an ordinary Portland cement. X-ray diffraction, calorimetry and thermogravimetry analysis track the formation of hydration products in the cement pastes. The use of aluminium anodizing sludge to produce CSAB cement was proved to be technically viable, as the generated product has special characteristics, presenting high mechanical strength development at the first hours of hydration.

The mobility of people, freight and information is fundamental to economic and social activities such as commuting, manufacturing, distributing consumer goods and supplying energy. There are two major problems that arise as a result of mobility. The first is economic cost and the second is environmental impact which is of increasing concern in sustainable development due to emission levels, particularly as a result of car use. This study focuses on constructing a network of induced emissions (NOIEs) by using three models and checking the robustness of NOIEs under varying parameters and models. The three models are Stead’s model, the NAEI model, and Oguchi’s model. This study uses the Swedish city of Borlänge as the case study. Calculating CO2 emissions by constructing the NOIEs using Stead’s model appears to give an underestimation when compared to results from a NOIEs which applies Oguchi’s model. Results when applying the NAEI model in constructing a NOIEs also give an underestimation compared to a NOIEs applying Oguchi’s model. Applying the NAEI model is, however, more accurate than applying Stead’s model in constructing a NOIEs. The outcomes of this study show that constructing a NOIEs is robust using Oguchi’s model. This model is preferable since it takes into account more important variables such as driving behavior and the length of the road segments which have a significant impact when estimating CO2 emissions.