A set of indicators has been developed by the author of this work to assess the social performance of Vattenfall’s products (electricity & heat). This set of indicators has been adapted to the requirements of the International EPD® system. The aim has been to create a set of indicators that can be applied to all processes within the lifecycle. The indicators are supposed to make a best possible statement of the social performance of a companies’ product, including the most relevant issues and topics within the pillar of social science and social sustainability. The method used for the development of the indicators is the Delphi method. The Delphi process includes several rounds of reviewing. A group of experts usually carries out the reviewing. In this study five rounds of reviewing has been conducted with the help of nine experts. The first round has been an extensive literature review. The 390 indicators found in the literature have been classified according to the system and the instruction of S-LCA, which are described in the Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products. The fifth round of reviewing has been the last one and consensus on the list of indicators could be reached. The outcome of the development process has been a set of 30 indicators. Not all subcategories proposed in UNEP/SETAC’s Guidelines for Social Life Cycle Assessment of Products have been covered. The indicators have been distinguished into two categories: core and additional. Some important social issues could not be expressed in the form of an indicator. They have been added in the final outcome of the paper, the ‘socioprofile’, as additional information. The measurement and impact assessment of qualitative indicators have been a major challenge of this study. Data availability can be seen as another critical field of the study and the application of the indicators. Other studies that have been conducted focused on a lower amount of indicators. The study has shown the possibility to quantify and measure social impacts to a certain degree. The proposed indicators are aiming at a globally focused assessment of social sustainability. The inclusion of experts and the group discussions with those experts have shown the importance of these indicators. The next step in the development of social sustainability indicators is the implementation of these indicators in a practical application and the study of the outcome. To be applicable within the International EPD® system, the Product Category Rules also have to be updated to allow for a Sustainable Product Declaration.

För att samhället ska fortsätta utvecklas behöver hållbarhet vara en del av resonemanget. Medvetenheten av miljövänligare renoveringsmetoder hos fastighetsägare behöver ökas, och därför har denna studie tagit fram skillnader i miljöpåverkan för olika renoveringsmetoder. I studien har ett lägenhetshus, ägt av ett kommunalt bostadsbolag, undersökts utifrån två olika renoveringsalternativ. Det ena alternativet innefattar en totalrenovering med bland annat stambyte, byte av kök och byte av ventilationssystem (till ett värmeåtervinnande). Det andra alternativet, det varsamma, består av relining av avloppsrör, upprustning av befintligt kök, med ommålning av stommar, och byte av fläktaggregat i befintligt ventilationssystem. För att ta reda på vilket alternativ av de två givna metoderna som har minst miljöpåverkan har en jämförelse gjorts där metodernas skillnader har beaktats. Dessa skillnader låg sedan till grund för en livscykelanalys som var det huvudsakliga momentet i studien. Störst fokus lades på den miljöpåverkande faktor som studien kom fram till var den viktigaste, nämligen klimatpåverkan. Utsläpp av koldioxidekvivalenter var det som störst fokus lades vid och som sedan ledde till studiens resultat. Den mest ekologisk hållbara metoden över tid visade sig vara totalrenoveringsmetoden. Detta berodde enbart på den energieffektivisering som byte av ventilationssystem bidrog till. Vid renoveringstillfället var det den varsamma renoveringsmetoden som hade minst miljöpåverkan, men efter 20 år av användning av byggnaden så blev totalrenoveringen mer ekologisk hållbar. Livscykelanalysen visar också vilka åtgärder i renoveringen som är de största klimatpåverkarna sett till utsläpp vilket i sin tur kan leda till att dessa byts ut till något miljövänligare samt att det skapar medvetenhet och upplysning av materials miljöpåverkan. Omfattningen av studiens klimatpåverkan var svårbegriplig och översattes därför till en kostnad i kronor. Denna kostnad är en form av koldioxidskatt som olika forskare menar behövs för att reducera människans påverkan på växthuseffekten. Detta gjordes just på grund av svårigheten att jämföra utsläppens magnitud och för att likställa de båda alternativen för en jämförelse över tid.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Ted Schroeder / Selection of a herd sire has always been of paramount importance given the initial financial investment and their contribution and effect on the genetic make-up of a beef herd. Data was collected from the nation’s longest consecutively run bull test conducted at the University Farm of Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU). The Bull Test and Bull Sale data utilized were collected from 2008-2013. Performance data was collected over a 112 day test period with data collection occurring at 28 day intervals. The top seventy bulls from each year’s test were selected based upon a performance index of ½ ADG and ½ weight per day of age (WDA), and a semen quality and motility score of excellent and sold at auction. Angus bulls were the focus of the study as they represented the vast majority of individuals sold. Three hedonic pricing models were created to try to determine what attributes buyers at the OPSU bull test sale were placing emphasis on. The initial hedonic model contained production data that included BW, ADG, WDA, Julian age, final test weight ultrasound data, and a dummy variable for sale year. The second model utilized all production data and added genetic variables in the form of production EPDs (Calving Ease Direct (CED), BW, Weaning Weight and Yearling Weight) and maternal EPDs (Calving Ease Maternal, Maternal Milk). The third model included the variables from the first and second models with the inclusion of carcass EPDs (Marbling, Ribeye Area (REA) and FAT). Year was significant in all three models however there was less of an effect on price as more variables were included. In model one, the production facts that were of significance were: ADG (P<0.01), BW (P<0.01) and final test weight (P<0.01). In the second model, ADG, BW and final test weight retained their significance at the P<0.01 level. The only production EPD that was significant (P<0.05) was CED. In the third model, years, ADG and BW were still significant (P<0.01). Final test weight (P=0.70) and CED (P = 0.132) had substantial changes. The carcass EPD ribeye area had a P value of 0.057. Producers who are placing bulls on test can utilize the given information to assist with their selection. It cannot go unsaid that while single trait selection can be very detrimental; ADG was significant across all models. The study indicates that performance and growth are of utmost importance to buyers, followed by birth weight consideration.

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been used to produce the yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coatings on metal substrates. Sintering of YSZ with and without doping has been carried out at 1150 °C for 2hrs. The properties of these coatings have been examined in light of thermal barrier applications. For EPD, the green density increases with an initial increase in the HCl concentration and the EPD time. This suggests that particle packing was influenced by a time dependent re-arrangement, in addition to the initial suspension dispersion state. The green density peaks at a electrical conductivity of around 10×10-4 S/m achieved by an 0.5 mM HCl addition for the 20 g/l suspensions with the EPD time of around 8 ~10 minute. For sintered coatings, the HCl concentration had a marked effect on the neck size to grain size ratio of the 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) coatings. The presence of ZrCl4 and ZrOCl2, and a high concentration of oxygen vacancies at the grain boundaries are believed to promote neck growth in the early stage of sintering at 1150 °C. During sintering of 3 mol% and 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (3YSZ and 8YSZ) at 1150 ºC for 2hrs, the densification rate substantially increased with a small amount of Fe2O3 addition (0.5 mol%) to the 3YSZ/8YSZ deposits. A more pronounced graingrowth was present in the Fe2O3 doped 8YSZ deposits. The increased Zr4+ diffusion coefficient is mainly responsible to the rapid densification rate of the Fe2O3 doped 3YSZ/8YSZ deposits. A small grain growth observed in the Fe2O3 doped 3YSZ deposits is attributed to the Fe3+ segregation at grain boundary. A small amount of CeO2 doping was found to substantially inhibit the densification rate of the doped 3YSZ deposits with a minor grain growth. Fe2O3 doping reduced the thermal conductivities of 3YSZ/8YSZ. It is found that Rayleigh-type phonon scattering due to the mass difference alone is inadequate to explain the thermal conductivity of Fe2O3 doped YSZ systems. The lattice strain effects due to the ionic radius difference could more effectively reduce thermal conductivity of the Fe2O3-doped 3YSZ. A decrease in the growth rate of the TGO scale with the increasing Fe2O3 additions was observed for the oxidized FeCrAlY metal substrates with the Fe2O3-doped 3YSZ coating, which was found to be attributed to the early formation of the stable and dense α-Al2O3 phase due to the presence of Fe3+ ions.

A tendência atual, imposta pela competitividade do mercado, exige bovinos mais eficientes e adequados ao sistema de produção, visando atender a demanda pela qualidade de carne. Em função disso, o melhoramento genético vem sendo utilizado, de forma a incrementar a eficiência dos rebanhos, proporcionando assim, maior rentabilidade ao sistema. Assim, o presente estudo foi conduzido com o propósito de estudar a variabilidade da progênie de touros submetidos à avaliação genética, através da análise das Diferenças Esperadas na Progênie (DEP) dos filhos de 359 reprodutores. As DEP das progênies foram estimadas por procedimentos REML e as avaliações de touros por metodologias alternativas, foram realizadas com o auxílio do software SAS. Foram utilizados 45.014 dados de peso à desmama (PD), 45.014 de peso ao sobreano (PS) e 45.014 de ganho de peso da desmama ao sobreano (GP) de bovinos de corte da raça Nelore, criados em uma fazenda em região tropical do Brasil. As DEPs dos touros foram estimadas de acordo com três métodos: uso da média aritmética, média harmônica acrescida da média da característica estudada e média harmônica simples. Os resultados sugerem que o uso da média harmônica na estimação de DEPs com o objetivo de ajustar o valor genético aditivo de um touro para a dispersão dos valores genéticos de suas progênies não trouxe diferenças importantes em relação à estimativa pela média aritmética, na população estudada. No entanto, dadas as implicações e importância de novas metodologias, são necessários maiores estudos em busca de se encontrar uma metodologia que permita maior uniformidade das progênies de touros. / The strong competition in beef market imposed an actual trend of searching for quality in beef production systems, trying to attend the consumers\' demand. Due to the necessity of increasing productivity, animal breeding programs have been utilized to increase cattle efficiency, offering more profitability to the production system. The present study was carried out to contribute to knowledge about sires\' progeny variability, using Expected Progeny Difference (EPD) from calves of 359 sires. EPD\'s were estimated by REML procedures. The prediction od bull\'s EPD\'s were performed by software SAS, using 45,014 data of weaning weight (PD), 45,014 of post-weaning weight (PS) and 45,014 of weight gain post-weaning (GP) from Nellore beef cattle, raised in a tropical area of Brazil. Those data were analyzed according with three methods: application of arithmetic mean, harmonic mean of EPD added by trait mean and only harmonic mean. Results suggested that estimation of EPDs using harmonic mean on condition that adjust sire\'s additive genetic value to dispersion form its calves\' genetic values did not make difference to the prediction trough arithmetic mean in the population studied. Due to the implications and importance of alternative methods to adjust bull\'s EPDs to variability of progeny, further studies are necessary to search for better progeny\'s uniformity.

Den globala uppvärmningen ökar ständigt och en djupare förståelse över projekt och produkters klimatpåverkan över dess livscykel är nödvändig för att sänka uppvärmningen. Sverige är idag en av de nationer med lägst koldioxidutsläpp per capita och har som mål att sänka sitt utsläpp ännu mer. I Sverige är en av de största sekterorna byggsidan, som står för nästan 19 % av Sveriges totala utsläpp. För att sänka Sveriges totala utsläpp måste åtgärder göras och krav ska sättas för att de ska införas. Trafikverket ansvarar för Sveriges nätsystem efter vägar och järnväg och har som mål att alla nya infrastrukturprojekt ska vara klimatneutrala år 2045 men redan idag efterfrågas information om projekts koldioxidutsläpp. Åtgärder har vidtagits för att sänka utsläppen i samband med produktionen av produkter som ger upphov till stora utsläpp, till exempel asfalt. En produkt som i detta avseende ofta faller mellan stolarna är nybyggnationer av de viltstängsel som följer med vägar och järnvägar.   Ramboll vill ha möjligheten att kunna ta fram värden för olika alternativ på viltstängsel för att klara de krav på redovisade klimatpåverkan som deras projekt har. I denna rapport skapas ett dokument som möjliggör för beräkning av olika stolptyper och deras respektive garantitid. Efter projektets slutförande är förhoppningen att det har skapats en djupare förståelse kring den miljöpåverkan viltstängslet har över sin livscykel från vagga till grav och hur denna beräknas. Detta projekt avgränsar sin undersökning till att endast beakta miljöaspekten från de olika stängseltyperna och lämnar därmed den ekonomiska delen utanför granskningen. De olika typerna av stolpar har en garanterad levnadstid, 20 år på trästolpar och 30 år på stålstolpen. Oavsett vilken produkt som har det större utsläppsvärdet måste den miljö stolparna ska stå i beaktas då beroende på stolptyp kan salt och väta förhindra att full levnadstid på produkterna uppnås.   Vid resultatet visade det sig att stålstolpe och stålnät har nästan dubbel så mycket koldioxidutsläpp gentemot trästolpe med stålnät. Vid montage för de båda produkterna landar det totala utsläppet på 8,45 ton koldioxidekvivalenter för stålstolpen och 3,09 ton koldioxidekvivalenter för trästolpe. På en period över 60 år så har det totala utsläppet för stålstolpen ökat till 26,21 ton koldioxid med två byten av staket och trästolpen får ett totalt utsläpp på 13,68 ton koldioxid med 3 byten. / Global warming is constantly increasing and a deeper understanding of projects and products' climate impact over its life cycle is necessary to mitigate this change. Sweden is today one of the nations with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions per capita and aims to reduce its emissions even further. In Sweden, one of the largest sectors for carbon dioxide emissions is the construction industry, accounting for almost 19% of Sweden's total emissions. To reduce Sweden's total emissions, measures and requirements must be taken. The Swedish Transport Administration is responsible for Sweden's network system of roads, rail, and ways for all new infrastructure projects to be climate neutral by 2045, but already there are requests asking about the carbon dioxide emissions in projects. Measures have already been taken today to reduce emissions associated with the major emissions of products such as asphalt. One product that is often overlooked when a new road is being developed is the game/wildlife fences.   Ramboll wants the opportunity to be able to develop values for different options on wildlife fences to be able to meet the demands on the reported climate impact that their project has. This report creates a document that allows for a rapid calculation of different types of post and warranty period. After the project's completion, it is hoped that a deeper understanding of the environmental impact of the game/wildlife fence has been created over its path from cradle to grave and how it is calculated. This project limits its study to considering only the environmental aspect of the different types of fences, leaving the financial part out of the audit. The different types of posts all differ with their guaranteed lifetime of 20 years on wooden posts and 30 years on the steel post. Regardless of which product has the higher emission value, the environment in which the posts are to be placed needs to be in consideration, as depending on the type of post, salt and wetness can prevent the full life of the products from being obtained.   The result showed that steel post and steel mesh have almost twice as much carbon dioxide emissions evenly against wooden post with steel mesh. When the two products are mounted, the total emissions became 8,45 ton of carbon dioxide equivalent for the steel post and 3,09 ton of carbon dioxide equivalent for the wooden post. If you look at a period over 60 years, the total emissions for the steel post have increased to 26,21 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent with two changes of fence and the wooden post gets a total emission of 13,68 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent with 3 changes.

Abstract The research behind this licentiate is spread out over a decade of intensive development of environmental work in industry. A 1998 survey of Swedish companies with newly installed environmental management systems (EMS) concluded that such systems need more product-orientation. Data collected by companies as part of the process of creating their EMS between 1996-2001 offered further evidence that it is environmentally justified to seek improvements in the materials selection, use and disposal phases of products, i.e., to make the environmental improvement work more product-orientated. In a EU-funded project carried out between 2004-2006 it was demonstrated that developing an environmental product declaration could be a cost-effective product-oriented environmental action even for smaller companies. This licentiate thesis relates to methods for companies to orientate their environmental work on their products. In particular, it examines experience and provides insights on the possibilities for companies, including small ones, to use life cycle assessment in product development in order to design products with an environmental performance well above legal compliance. It is difficult to give general recommendations to companies about their environmental work because each company has its own unique business idea, customers, work culture, stakeholders etc. Nevertheless, the main findings of the licentiate thesis can be summed up in the following recommendations for, say, a small company in Europe without much previous experience of environmental work: §  Focus your environmental work on your products because you will accomplish more environmentally and the chance of profiting economically will motivate your personnel; §  Consider doing a life cycle assessment, LCA, on a strategically chosen product in order to learn more about your products and how to improve their environmental performance; §  Do not expect to find a general market demand for green products; start a dialogue with your best customers in order to create the demand; §  Engage an LCA specialist to do the LCA and work together with your personnel to interpret the results and generate improvement ideas; §  If your customers demand that you install an environmental management system, ask them if they would not prefer to receive an environmental product declaration on the particular product they are interested in, and a chance to discuss how its environmental performance can be improved.

Betong är ett material som vid framtagning av huvudråvaran cementklinker släpper ut stora mängder koldioxid. Enligt nationella klimatmål ska det finnas klimatneutral betong på svenska marknaden till år 2030 och betongen ska nå nettonollutsläpp till år 2045. Ett intensivt utvecklingsarbete pågår i betongbranschen och olika strategier diskuteras för att uppnå lägre klimatpåverkan. Syftet med arbetet är att undersöka hur betongbranschen arbetar mot klimatneutralitet och se hur långt aktörerna kommit i det arbetet. Syftet är även att öka statistiken för klimatförbättrad betong samt se hur den klimatförbättrade betongen står sig mot standarden ftSS 137003:2020 som är under revidering. Arbetet genomfördes genom litteraturstudier, enkätundersökning och dokumentanalys. Litteraturstudien har legat till grund för den teoretiska bakgrunden. Enkätundersökningen som skickades ut till betongtillverkare är primärkällan i studien och har gett en bild av hur branschen ligger till i dagsläget gällande användning av klimatförbättrad betong. Studien kompletterades med en dokumentanalys i form av granskning av EPD:er samt den reviderade standarden. Dokumentanalysen undersökte vilken klimatförbättrad betong som finns redan idag samt hur ändringar i standarden påverkar förutsättningarna för klimatförbättrad betong. Enkätundersökningen och granskningen av EPD:erna visade att viss klimatförbättrad betong redan finns i dagsläget, men att det inte används i så stor utsträckning. Drygt hälften av betongproducenterna hade inte någon klimatförbättrad betong på marknaden i nuläget, men merparten arbetar med att ta fram det och de flesta beräknar att ha det på marknaden inom ett till tre år. Majoriteten av betongtillverkarna var positiva till att all deras betong kommer vara klimatneutral till år 2045. Något som både litteraturstudien och enkätundersökningen fastställde var att samverkan mellan olika aktörer i ett tidigt skede är viktigt för att uppnå klimatneutralitet. För att nå klimatmålen krävs dessutom både att producenterna fortsätter arbeta mot klimatmålen men också mer kunskap och medvetenhet hos konsumenterna. / During the production of concrete, a large amount of carbon dioxide is emitted. The Swedish national climate target goal aims for climate-neutral concrete on the Swedish market by 2030 and to further attain a net zero emission by 2045. The concrete production industry is working on strategies to reach these goals and thereby attain a lower climate impact. This study aims to examine how the concrete industry works towards climate neutrality and to see how far they have come in accordance to this goal. A further purpose for this study is to increase the statistics for climate improved concrete and to compare how the climate improved concrete measures up to the revised standard ftSS 137003:2020. The study made use of a literature review, a survey and a document analysis. Through the literature review, information was acquired on theoretical background relating to the interest of study. The data obtained from the survey sent out to concrete producers constituted the primary source. This provided information regarding the current situation in relation to climate improved concrete. As a complement to the survey, the study also did a document analysis of EPDs as well as the revised standard. This tool was used to analyse existing climate improved concrete respectively to examine the revised standard in order to establish how alterations in the standard affects the conditions for climate improved concrete. Based on the results obtained from the survey and analysis of the EPDs, some climate improved concrete are currently available, yet in limited usage. Most of the concrete producers are lacking climate improved concrete on the market, but most of them are working towards this goal with the aim to have such a product on the market within one to three years. The majority of concrete producers are convinced that their concrete will be climate-neutral by the year 2045. Both the literature review and the survey confirmed the importance of collaboration between different actors during an early stage in order to attain climate neutrality in concrete production. To attain the climate goals it requires that concrete producers continue to work towards the climate goals, but moreover, the knowledge and awareness among consumers is also essential.

Since the first warnings on the limits of planet Earth, 50 years ago, policies havenot been sufficient and fast enough to create a more sustainable world, which is todayillustrated by climate change, an increase in resource scarcity, and tremendousbiodiversity loss. Cities have been playing an important role in those environmentalconsequences, today accounting for 60% of greenhouse gases. However, citiesare designed by urban planners, who have a great influence on their projects inthe early planning phases. Thus, there is an urge to provide urban planners witheffective decision support tools that allow them to have in-depth knowledge of theenvironmental consequences of their choices.This is the goal of the ”Energy Carbon District”(ECD) methodology implementedin the Urban Print software, a project launched in 2017 by the FrenchAgency for Ecological Transition (ADEME). This tool sets out the first methodologicalchoices for carrying out life cycle analyses at the district level, right fromthe first stages of planning.The goal of this master thesis was to understand the strength and weaknessesof the ECD methodology and Urban Print software, and conduct a district LCAanalysis on a residential neighbourhood in order to get lessons on the most impactingdistricts’ elements, and on the best strategies to reduce those impacts.In this context, the study first provides an extensive literature review on the LCAmethodology, construction products LCA, buildings LCA, and districts LCA. Then,multiple district LCA are conducted on a generic new residential neighbourhoodlocated in Bayonne (France), using different parameters, and different weightingmethodologies.Our case study showed that energy, mobility, and construction products &amp; equipmentare successively the three main contributors to districts’ impacts in a Businessas-usual scenario. ”Energy efficiency” and ”low impacting energy production” werethe two most effective leverages of urban planners to reduce environmental impacts,reducing the total weighed impacts by 21% to 34.6% compared to the Businessas-usual scenario. Once those leverages were activated, mobility and constructionproducts &amp; equipment became the two first contributors, but very few leveragescould be used to reduce those impacts.In the end, the literature review and case study, allowed to highlight the strengthsand weaknesses of the ECD methodology, and the next challenges for district LCAstandardization. One challenge that stands out is the development of tools able toquantify mobility-related impacts based on more district parameters than just thelocation.

Samtidigt som klimatfrågan är på ALLAS läppar står byggsektorn för 20 procent av växthusgasutsläpp i Sverige. Byggbranschen har tagit fram en gemensam färdplan som styr mot nettnollutsläpp år 2045. Det är faktorer som gör att byggherrar och beställare strävar efter förminskade klimatavtryck i sina satsningar, som inte sällan ställer krav på miljösmarta materialval. Projektören måste då kunna leverera de bästa lösningarna.  Idén för examensarbetet har tagits fram i samarbete med Swecos avdelning för vatten i Luleå. Rapporten ska bekriva Swecos arbete med klimatkalkylering inom VA-projektering, hur de arbetar med det nu och vad som kan förbättras. Arbetet genomförs genom att studera teori för klimatberäkningar, intervjua experter samt genom att fördjupa sig i och studera klimatdata från olika leverantörer. Beräkningar utförs och sammanställs för att ge svar på vilket material för VA-ledningar som är bäst för klimatet.  Resultaten visar att det inte är vanligt att byggherrar ställer krav på material för VA-ledningar ur ett klimatperspektiv. Resultaten visar även att de material som undersökts har stora skillnader i utsläpp av växthusgaser.