Energy balance of large-scale and small-scale scenarios of macroalgae harvesting for biogas production was assessed from the energy balance perspective. Evaluation was based on primary energy Input Output (IO) ratio where all primary energy inputs into the stages of the process life-cycle were summarized and divided by the final energy output from the system. Estimations were made for three cases of possible methane yield from macroalgae as well as for different scenarios of macroalgae co-digestion with other feedstock. Anaerobic digestion of macroalgae as a single substrate both on a small- and large-scale is energy efficient only in case when their methane potential is at the average or high level with the IO ratio of 0.47 and 0.32 correspondently. In general co-digestion with other substrates is more preferable with respect to process condition and energy balance. Large-scale scenario is more stable and efficient than small-scale with the lowest IO ratio for co-digestion with crops. This is explained by the fact that biogas plant operation is among the most energy demanding stages which on the small-scale requires about 65 % of the input energy when this number for large-scale plant does not exceed 28 %. Energy inputs into digestate handling, feedstock pre-treatment and biogas upgrading, that are next most energy consuming stages, is greatly affected by the assumptions made about amount of substrate, produced biogas and transportation distance. When considering the maximal distance between macroalgae harvesting point and biogas production site and to which at which the energy balance remains positive then digestate handling becomes the most energy demanding process stage.

With the use of a process-orientated ecosystem model andmeasurements conducted at different Swedish coniferous forestsites, abiotic and biotic interactions between tree and soilwere identified and related to governing factors. Two differentmodelling approaches to describe soil temperatures at two sitesincluding hydrological transects were tested (I). The approachin which both canopy and soil were considered proved to be amore flexible tool to describe soil temperatures, especiallyduring snow-free winter periods. Five sites along a climatetransect covering Sweden were used to describe soil carbon poolchanges during an 80-year period simulation (II). The dynamicmodelling approach, with a feedback between abiotic and bioticsub-models, was successful in describing simplified patterns offorest stand dynamics and furthermore in differentiatingbetween climate and nitrogen availability factors. The largereffect of nitrogen availability compared to climate on soilcarbon pool changes was clearly shown. Keywords:SPAC; soil surface energy balance; Norwayspruce; canopy; LAI; climate; nitrogen; CoupModel

As the main component of terrestrial energy and water balance, evapotranspiration (ET) moves a large amount of water and energy in the form of latent heat flux from bare soil and vegetated surfaces into the atmosphere. Despite the development of many methods and equations through past decades, accurate ET estimation is still a challenging task, especially for the Red River Valley of the North (RRV) that has limited updated information on ET either for landscape or agricultural water management. The overall objective of first study was to evaluate the ASCE-EWRI reference ET (ETo) method by developing an accurate crop coefficient (Kc) using an eddy covariance (EC) system over an unirrigated turfgrass site. The results showed that with mean ETgrass/ETo ratio as 0.96 for the entire growing seasons of turfgrass, the ASCE-EWRI ETo method is valid for guiding the turfgrass irrigation management in cold climate conditions. In a Controlled drainage with subirrigation (CD+SI) field, an EC system was used to measure and quantify energy flux components along with soil water content (SWC) and water table depth (WTD) measurements during four corn growing. This study showed that the subsurface drainage along with the CD + SI system can be used for optimal water management with an improvement of 26.7% and 6.6% of corn yield during wet and dry year, respectively. For the final task, ET was measured using EC, Bowen ratio system (BREB), and soil water balance (SWB) method during the corn growing season. The comparison of the EC and the BREB system illustrated the advantages of using the residual method to close the energy balance closure of EC. Among the different time approaches for SWB method, ET by the SWB method using the average soil water contents between 24:00 to 2:00 time period showed non-significant differences (alpha = 0.05) compared to the BREB system during the observation periods. / USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture project / USDA NCR SARE project / ND Soybean Council / ND Water Resources Research Institute / ND Agricultural Experimental Station / USDA Hatch project / NASA ROSES Project

En la actualidad, existen muchas estructuras de gran importancia y funcionalidad (hospitales, colegios, entre otros) que albergan un gran número de personas y de las que se espera que ante un evento sísmico severo se mantengan operativas, sin embargo, muchas de estas edificaciones esenciales han sido construidas con códigos sísmicos antiguos, los cuales podrían no tener los requerimientos actuales de resistencia y rigidez. Por lo que podrían fallar o tener un comportamiento deficiente ante sismos moderados y/o severos. Entonces, es así como la investigación aborda como caso de estudio uno de los bloques del Hospital Luis Negreiros, en el que se desarrolla un análisis sísmico y se propone su reforzamiento con dispositivos de protección sísmica, en especial disipadores de fluido viscoso, los cuales absorben la energía de entrada del sismo y aumentan el amortiguamiento de la estructura, lo que permite lograr un buen comportamiento durante la acción de sismos leves o moderados. La investigación consta de 6 capítulos, en el primer capítulo se explica los antecedentes de la investigación, hipótesis y objetivos, en el segundo capítulo se desarrolla el marco teórico de la investigación, una compilación del estado del arte relacionado a protección sísmica, el tercer capítulo explica el modelo matemático de los dispositivos así como las configuraciones existentes, en el cuarto capítulo se desarrolla la metodología de la investigación, en el quinto capítulo se analiza el caso de estudio y se plantea una propuesta de reforzamiento. En el sexto y sétimo capítulo se desarrollan las conclusiones y recomendaciones, respectivamente. / Currently, there are many structures of great importance and functionality (hospitals, schools, among others) that are home to a large number of people and which are expected to remain operational before a severe seismic event; however, many of these essential buildings have been built with old seismic codes, which may not have the current requirements for strength and rigidity. So they could fail or have a deficient behavior against moderate and / or severe earthquakes. Thus, this is how the research deals with one of the blocks of the Luis Negreiros Hospital as a case study, in which a seismic analysis is developed and its reinforcement is proposed with seismic protection devices, especially viscous fluid dissipaters, which absorbs the input energy of the earthquake and increase the damping of the structure, which allows to achieve good behavior during the action of mild or moderate earthquakes. The research consists of 6 chapters, in the first chapter the background of the research, hypotheses and objectives is explained, in the second chapter the theoretical framework of the research is developed, a compilation of the state of the art related to seismic protection, the third chapter explains the mathematical model of the devices as well as the existing configurations, in the fourth chapter the research methodology is developed, in the fifth chapter the case study is analyzed and a reinforcement proposal is proposed. In the sixth and seventh chapter the conclusions and recommendations are developed, respectively. / Tesis

Modern high-yielding dairy cows are currently producing far more milk than their ancestors due to a prolonged and intensive genetic selection for milk production trait accompanied by the revolutionary improvement in technology, management, and nutrition. On the other hand, a noticeable decline in fertility and reproductive performance was undeniably consistent with the increase in milk yield. This decline in fertility and reproductive performance are recognized worldwide and well documented in several studies. Dairy cows typically experience a period of energy deficit during the first few months of lactation due to the rapid increase in milk production and limited feed intake. This shortage of energy requirements results in loss of body fat which is associated with the disturbance of the normal levels of certain hormones and metabolites. The significant increase in milk yield has increased the severity and duration of the energy deficit which has an adverse effect on the main reproductive cells and tissues that profoundly contribute to fertility. These include the egg from the ovary, the early embryo, and the internal lining of the uterus. Fertilization of a healthy egg results in the development of an embryo with an excellent quality that can survive through the multiple stages of gestation, especially during the first two weeks of gestation when many embryos die. The embryos in the early stages are the most susceptible to the disturbance in their environment. Energy deficit was shown to negatively impact the egg and embryo quality and make the uterus lining suboptimal to support early embryo development. Understanding the mechanisms by which energy deficit influences the main reproductive tissues will help in developing profound strategies to improve fertility in dairy cows.

Diploma thesis deals with analysis of internal microclima of the building , evaluation of its thermal and technical properties and it also deals with its energy comsumption. With using simuation programm, there was designed solutions which will lead not only to lowering of energy consumption but also to improvemnt of komfort for students and tachers.

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Jatropha constitutes one of promising species suitable for providing oil for biodiesel production. So, looking for good practice and sustainable use of energy during Jatropha cultivation and lack of information about Jatropha in Mozambique, this study pretends to estimate the energy balance in Jatropha plantation in Sun biofuel farm, by calculating the energy indicators based on a life cycle approach in Sun Biofuel farm located in Manica province, Central Mozambique. Energy balance is a tool which can help to calculate all energy indicators in order to evaluate and analyse the energy efficiency, sustainability and environmental benefits. This study estimated the indicator of energy balance namely: energy input is the sum of all energy used during the process of Jatropha cultivation and oil production, energy output is the amount of energy produced, Net energy value can be calculated subtracting the energy output from the energy input, Energy productivity is the division of Jatropha produced by the respective input energy, specific energy is the division of energy input by Jatropha seed output and energy ratio is the energy output divided by energy input. Also data was collected on the farm of Sun Biofuel to estimate the sustainability of agricultural production of the company. The Jatropha production in Sun Biofuel farm (SBF) absorbed around 28 579 MJ/ha of energy during the production and 121 820 MJ/ha of energy gain as result of the all production. The total energy input was direct energy with 77% and Indirect energy with 23% used in Jatropha farm, and also the total energy input was divided into renewable with 26% and non-renewable with 74% of its contribution. The results revealed that the contribution of seed husks was (8%), woody products (38%), raw seed oil (30%), Shell (9%) and press cake (15%) of total energy output in Jatropha oil production farm. Net energy value (NEV), energy productivity, energy use efficiency and Specific energy was 93 241 MJ ha-1, 0.067 Kg MJ-1, 4.3 and 15.04 MJ Kg-1, respectively. According to these results the energy balance is positive and the energy use in Jatropha production is efficient.

Jatropha constitutes one of promising species suitable for providing oil for biodiesel production. So, looking for good practice and sustainable use of energy during Jatropha cultivation and lack of information about Jatropha in Mozambique, this study pretends to estimate the energy balance in Jatropha plantation in Sun biofuel farm, by calculating the energy indicators based on a life cycle approach in Sun Biofuel farm located in Manica province, Central Mozambique. Energy balance is a tool which can help to calculate all energy indicators in order to evaluate and analyse the energy efficiency, sustainability and environmental benefits. This study estimated the indicator of energy balance namely: energy input is the sum of all energy used during the process of Jatropha cultivation and oil production, energy output is the amount of energy produced, Net energy value can be calculated subtracting the energy output from the energy input, Energy productivity is the division of Jatropha produced by the respective input energy, specific energy is the division of energy input by Jatropha seed output and energy ratio is the energy output divided by energy input. Also data was collected on the farm of Sun Biofuel to estimate the sustainability of agricultural production of the company. The Jatropha production in Sun Biofuel farm (SBF) absorbed around 28 579 MJ/ha of energy during the production and 121 820 MJ/ha of energy gain as result of the all production. The total energy input was direct energy with 77% and Indirect energy with 23% used in Jatropha farm, and also the total energy input was divided into renewable with 26% and non-renewable with 74% of its contribution. The results revealed that the contribution of seed husks was (8%), woody products (38%), raw seed oil (30%), Shell (9%) and press cake (15%) of total energy output in Jatropha oil production farm. Net energy value (NEV), energy productivity, energy use efficiency and Specific energy was 93 241 MJ ha-1, 0.067 Kg MJ-1, 4.3 and 15.04 MJ Kg-1, respectively. According to these results the energy balance is positive and the energy use in Jatropha production is efficient.

Greenhouse cultivation is a growing industry, especially in mild climates, much due to the ability toadjust the growing conditions and increased water utilization efficiency. The most important aspect onthe cultivation is the indoor temperature. The variation in temperature is due to the Swedish climatewhere the highest and lowest outdoor temperature respectively varies greatly during the year. To enableoptimal indoor climate additional heating is required during colder periods. Presently, most of theexisting greenhouses utilizes combustion of fossil fuels for heating, which contributes to the climatechange through the emissions of greenhouse gases. One way to circumvent this impact is to exchangethe fossil fuels with biogas. Combining biogas production and greenhouse cultivation enables synergiesand a more closed cycle of material flow can be achieved. However, this combination is rather immaturedue to lacking previous research, giving this report its main purpose, to examine the synergies andsustainability of combining a greenhouse with small-scale biogas production. Initially, an extensive literature study was carried out followed by a simulation based on the obtainedknowledge. The simulation was comprised of two greenhouses with different geometries, one with theshape of an arch with polyethylene-film cladding and the other with a sawtooth roof with glass cladding,both with two layers. The other properties such as internal area and volume are more or less the samefor the simulated greenhouses. Useful data such as outdoor temperature, rainfall and solar irradiationetc. was obtained for the city of Enköping, Sweden. The calculations for the models were carried out inthe program Microsoft Excel. In order to evaluate the feasibility of these models a reference greenhousewas studied, which had similar properties and conditions. The optimal temperature for tomato cultivation is 20° C, and to maintain this level over the entire yearit was found that the heat requirements were 89 500 kWh for the arched greenhouse and 94 400 kWhfor the sawtooth greenhouse. In comparison with the reference greenhouse, the heat requirement wasaround 200 kWh per m2 and year less in the simulated greenhouses. Furthermore, it was found thataround 31 800 kWh of cooling is required over the year (249 kWh per m2 and year) for the archedgreenhouse and 30 900 kWh per year (241 kWh per m2 and year) for the sawtooth greenhouse, to keepthe indoor temperature at 20 °C. Moreover, two to three possible harvests annually gives the yield of 3456-5184 kg tomatoes per year. Both the simulated greenhouses are feasible concepts, however thesawtooth greenhouse is a better option due to its increased longevity and lower contribution ofgreenhouse gas emissions over time. Furthermore, more research needs to obtain a fully closed cycle.