The objective of this research and aim of this dissertation was to determine the potential impact of the introduction of a carbon emissions tax (hereafter CET) on the South African mining industry and this has been achieved by addressing the following three areas of research: Most urgently, a literature review was required in order to obtain an understanding of why a carbon tax or alternative system was required. A detailed understanding of the functioning of these systems was invaluable to the outcome of the study. The survey conducted, confirmed the fact that global warming and related climate change brought about by human interference, constitute both global and national complications. The study confirmed that market based instruments can assist in addressing this problem and that these are generally considered to be more effective than traditional command-and-control policies. Notwithstanding this finding, in order to ensure efficacy, careful consideration should be given to the economic climate in which they are to be implemented. Secondly, a literature review was essential in order to fully comprehend the nature of the South African economy and specifically the South African mining industry’s contribution to the aforementioned problem. The importance of the industry to the economy had to be acknowledged. It was then established that the South African economy, and in particular the South African mining industry, contribute to this predicament due to their considerable dependence on coal fired power stations for the supply of electricity. The study revealed that should this industry be adversely affected by the proposed taxation, the economy as a whole would suffer. Finally, a literature review as well as quantitative examples were used to estimate the impact of CET on the South African mining industry. This outcome was achieved by evaluating the results of taxation as opposed to the objectives of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA). The study found that the effect on most of the objectives of the MPRDA, and especially those related to job creation, economic growth and equal access for all applicants on entering the arena of the mining industry, may well be affected adversely by the implementation of the proposed CET, as the tax was found to impact negatively on the industry’s profits. It has also been assessed that the iron ore sector will be the most affected sector and that smaller companies will be affected to a larger degree than larger companies. The modus operandi and selection of allocated beneficiaries when allocating the revenue collected from the proposed CET by the National Treasury were also found to play a significant role in whether or not the objectives of the MPRDA were positively or negatively influenced by the implementation of the tax. The outcome of the study performed on the research question confirmed that, if said effect of the proposed CET on the South African mining industry was to be compared to the objective of the MPRDA, both positive and negative implications could be identified. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Emissions from residential combustion appliances vary significantly depending on the firing behaviours and combustion conditions, in addition to combustion technologies and fuel quality. Although wood pellet combustion in residential heating boilers is efficient, the combustion conditions during start-up and stop phases are not optimal and produce significantly high emissions such as carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon from incomplete combustion. The emissions from the start-up and stop phases of the pellet boilers are not fully taken into account in test methods for ecolabels which primarily focus on emissions during operation on full load and part load. The objective of the thesis is to investigate the emission characteristics during realistic operation of residential wood pellet boilers in order to identify when the major part of the annual emissions occur. Emissions from four residential wood pellet boilers were measured and characterized for three operating phases (start-up, steady and stop). Emissions from realistic operation of combined solar and wood pellet heating systems was continuously measured to investigate the influence of start-up and stop phases on total annual emissions. Measured emission data from the pellet devices were used to build an emission model to predict the annual emission factors from the dynamic operation of the heating system using the simulation software TRNSYS. Start-up emissions are found to vary with ignition type, supply of air and fuel, and time to complete the phase. Stop emissions are influenced by fan operation characteristics and the cleaning routine. Start-up and stop phases under realistic operation conditions contribute 80 – 95% of annual carbon monoxide (CO) emission, 60 – 90% total hydrocarbon (TOC), 10 – 20% of nitrogen oxides (NO), and 30 – 40% particles emissions. Annual emission factors from realistic operation of tested residential heating system with a top fed wood pelt boiler can be between 190 and 400 mg/MJ for the CO emissions, between 60 and 95 mg/MJ for the NO, between 6 and 25 mg/MJ for the TOC, between 30 and 116 mg/MJ for the particulate matter and between 2x10-13 /MJ and 4x10-13 /MJ for the number of particles. If the boiler has the cleaning sequence with compressed air such as in boiler B2, annual CO emission factor can be up to 550 mg/MJ. Average CO, TOC and particles emissions under realistic annual condition were greater than the limits values of two eco labels. These results highlight the importance of start-up and stop phases in annual emission factors (especially CO and TOC). Since a large or dominating part of the annual emissions in real operation arise from the start-up and stop sequences, test methods required by the ecolabels should take these emissions into account. In this way it will encourage the boiler manufacturers to minimize annual emissions. The annual emissions of residential pellet heating system can be reduced by optimizing the number of start-ups of the pellet boiler. It is possible to reduce up to 85% of the number of start-ups by optimizing the system design and its controller such as switching of the boiler pump after it stops, using two temperature sensors for boiler ON/OFF control, optimizing of the positions of the connections to the storage tank, increasing the mixing valve temperature in the boiler circuit and decreasing the pump flow rate. For 85 % reduction of start-ups, 75 % of CO and TOC emission factors were reduced while 13% increase in NO and 15 % increase in particle emissions was observed.

Transportation is one of the areas where Sweden could not yet manage to reduce the CO2 emissions. One solution that has been suggested to reduce the CO2 emissions in this sector is through the mass adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). However, mass EV adoption brings complications with it. Drivers behavior is a critical aspect since people often charge their car at home after work. This could negatively affect the evening load peak and thus cause a high impact on the electricity system. A survey was sent out to current private EV owners in Sweden, to learn about their charging schedules, driving patterns and battery capacity. 226 of 403 replied to the survey which gave a survey reply rate of 56 %. The goal of this work was to estimate the future adoption of EVs, based on the current trends and national targets in order to develop different scenarios. With the scenarios in mind, the projected consumption of EVs for different periods of the day, the magnitude and time of the peak load as well as the overall consumption and CO2 reduction per year were calculated. Three scenarios were analyzed with 96 000, 650 000 and 1 000 000 electric vehicles where 25 % are defined to be running entirely on electricity in the middle and high penetration scenario since even plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, PHEV where included. The scenarios are estimated as the possible situation in 2030 and a simulation is done in MATLAB for summer and winter cases as well as weekdays and weekends. Results showed that the charging pattern of the EV drivers would cause a peak load at around 20.00 where the peak load from the overall household consumptions also takes place. The highest consumption takes place during the weekend cases but there were no significant difference between summer and winter. For example the peak consumption of the EVs was 150 MWh during winter and weekends at 20.00. The annual consumption of the EVs would be 238 GWh, 342 GWh and 616 GWh for the low, middle and high penetration scenario. By analyzing the current installed power of renewable energy sources in Sweden, it was found that the demand for EVs could be met by renewables entirely today. It was also found that using EVs instead of conventional fossil fueled cars can save up to 264 Mton CO2 for the low penetration scenario, 447 Mton for the middle penetration scenario and 688 Mton for the high penetration scenario. Different assumptions could have caused deviation from the actual result and it was found during the implementation of the simulation that the survey questions could be improved for future surveys. It was concluded that mass adoption of EVs is possible in terms of electricity production and installed power. However, increase in the evening peak led to the conclusion that balancing of the grid is necessary for example through Vehicle-to-grid (V2G), controlled charging or energy storage. Keywords: MATLAB, electricity consumption, EV, CO2 emissions, simulation, 2030, Scenario, penetration level

The objective of this research and aim of this dissertation was to determine the potential impact of the introduction of a carbon emissions tax (hereafter CET) on the South African mining industry and this has been achieved by addressing the following three areas of research: Most urgently, a literature review was required in order to obtain an understanding of why a carbon tax or alternative system was required. A detailed understanding of the functioning of these systems was invaluable to the outcome of the study. The survey conducted, confirmed the fact that global warming and related climate change brought about by human interference, constitute both global and national complications. The study confirmed that market based instruments can assist in addressing this problem and that these are generally considered to be more effective than traditional command-and-control policies. Notwithstanding this finding, in order to ensure efficacy, careful consideration should be given to the economic climate in which they are to be implemented. Secondly, a literature review was essential in order to fully comprehend the nature of the South African economy and specifically the South African mining industry’s contribution to the aforementioned problem. The importance of the industry to the economy had to be acknowledged. It was then established that the South African economy, and in particular the South African mining industry, contribute to this predicament due to their considerable dependence on coal fired power stations for the supply of electricity. The study revealed that should this industry be adversely affected by the proposed taxation, the economy as a whole would suffer. Finally, a literature review as well as quantitative examples were used to estimate the impact of CET on the South African mining industry. This outcome was achieved by evaluating the results of taxation as opposed to the objectives of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act 28 of 2002 (MPRDA). The study found that the effect on most of the objectives of the MPRDA, and especially those related to job creation, economic growth and equal access for all applicants on entering the arena of the mining industry, may well be affected adversely by the implementation of the proposed CET, as the tax was found to impact negatively on the industry’s profits. It has also been assessed that the iron ore sector will be the most affected sector and that smaller companies will be affected to a larger degree than larger companies. The modus operandi and selection of allocated beneficiaries when allocating the revenue collected from the proposed CET by the National Treasury were also found to play a significant role in whether or not the objectives of the MPRDA were positively or negatively influenced by the implementation of the tax. The outcome of the study performed on the research question confirmed that, if said effect of the proposed CET on the South African mining industry was to be compared to the objective of the MPRDA, both positive and negative implications could be identified. / MCom (South African and International Taxation), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Introduktion: Ökade transporter på den globala marknaden påverkar miljön negativt. Detta har lett till ett ökat intresse för mer hållbara logistiklösningar. Transportföretagen spelar en stor roll för att uppnå de satta miljömålen. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att undersöka hur transportföretag arbetar med hållbarhetsfrågor idag och vilka faktorer som kommer vara viktiga i framtiden. Metod: För att kunna svara mot syftet antogs ett angreppssätt i två steg. Litteratur samlades in och användes som grund för kunskap inom området. Samtidigt som intervjuer genomfördes med tre transportföretag. Deras svar jämfördes med varandra och ställdes mot den insamlade teorin i en analys. Utifrån denna analys drogs en slutsats. Resultat: De två mindre företagen hade inga kundkrav på sig angående hållbarhet, deras arbete kom främst inifrån. För alla deltagande företag innebär hållbarhet mest miljödimensionen. Fokus för alla ligger på att minska koldioxidutsläppen, främst genom val av miljöklassade fordon, val av drivmedel samt minskning av bränsleåtgången. Transportföretagen är miljöcertifierade och arbetar kontinuerligt med att bli bättre i sitt miljöarbete. De har utbildat sina chaufförer och satt in IT-system för direkt återkoppling, detta gör att förarna lättare kan tänka på miljön i sin körning. För att uppnå en hög fyllnadsgrad gäller det att utnyttja lastkapaciteten till max och undvika tomma körningar. Därför samarbetar företagen med konkurrenter och hämtar gods åt varandra. Slutsats: Det finns hjälpmedel att tillämpa för att erhålla hållbarare transporter. Dessa är val av fordon, val av bränsle, utbildning, IT-system, packningslösningar och samkörning. De viktigaste faktorerna för transportföretagen är idag val av fordon, drivmedel och bränsleåtgången. Inför framtiden händer det mycket på bränslefronten, bland annat en utveckling gällande elfordon och elvägar samt biobränslen. Även en attitydförändring gällande hållbarhet för uppköparna av transporttjänster behövs då det i dagsläget fokuseras för mycket på priset. / Introduction: Increased transports on the global market is effecting the environment negatively, which has led to an increased interest in sustainable logistics. The logistics service providers (LSPs) play a major role in achieving the set environmental goals. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how LSPs can be more sustainable today and in the future. Methodology: In order to answer the purpose of the paper two phases were used. Literature was collected and used as the basis of knowledge in the field. At the same time interviews were conducted with three LSPs. Their answers were compared with each other and with the literature. From the analysis a conclusion was drawn. Results: The two smaller companies had no demands from customers regarding their work with sustainability. For all the involved LSPs sustainability mostly meant the environmental aspect. Their focus is on reducing carbon dioxide emissions, this is achieved by using environmentally certified vehicles, choice of fuels and reducing the fuel consumption. The three LSPs all have an environmental management system and work continuously to be more sustainable. They have trained their drivers and have set up an IT-system for direct feedback. This helps the drivers to see the impact their driving has on the environment. To achieve a high fill ratio the companies avoid empty runs and try to maximize the cargo capacity. The LSPs collaborate with competitors and pick up cargo for each other. Conclusion: There are tools to apply to obtain more sustainable transports. These are the choice of vehicle, the choice of fuel, fuel consumption, training, IT-systems, packaging solutions and collaboration. The most important factors for the LSPs today are the choice of vehicles, the choice of fuel and fuel consumptions. A lot is happening in the area of alternative fuels including the development of biofuels, electric vehicles and electric roads. Also a change of attitude from the transport buyers regarding the sustainability is needed because today they mainly focus on the price.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Space agencies are under pressure to utilize better bandwidth-efficient communication methods due to the actual allocated frequency bands becoming more congested. Budget reductions is another problem that the space agencies must deal with. This budget constraint results in simpler spacecraft carrying less communication capabilities and also the reduction in staff to capture data in the earth stations. It is then imperative that the most bandwidth efficient communication methods be utilized. This paper gives the results of a computer simulation study on 8 Level Phase Shift Keying (8PSK) modulation with respect to bandwidth, power efficiency, spurious emissions, interference susceptibility and the non-constant envelope effect through a non-linear channel. The simulations were performed on a Signal Processing Worksystem (SPW: software installed on a SUN SPARC 10 Unix Station and Hewlett Packard Model 715/100 Unix Station). This work was conducted at New Mexico State University (NMSU) in the Center for Space Telemetry and Telecommunications Systems in the Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Science in Audiology

published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Science in Audiology

published_or_final_version / Speech and Hearing Sciences / Master / Master of Science in Audiology

Carbon Capture and Storage Potential Contribution to Mitigate Climate Change By Angel Mario Baca, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2009 Supervisor: Dr. Eric Bickel This thesis evaluates the potential of the Carbon Capture and Storage technologies to mitigate climate change. This work emerged from the current debate regarding when CCS technologies are going to be ready in a commercial-scale, or whether they are going to be economically viable. Geologically, the world contains enough room for storing CO2 emissions, but it is still unsolved if leakage can be controlled and monitored. This research focuses on the development of an economic model to estimate the value of CCS.. This model uses equations from the DICE (Dynamic Integrated model on Climate and the Economy). Then, it estimates what change in temperature could occur, and computes the present value of damages to the economy. Moreover, emissions are simulated using the 40 scenario emissions from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. As the main conclusion of this model, CCS has to be deployed in almost in the entire number of fossil fuel plants around the world and has to be done in the next 30 years to see CCS having an impact, otherwise it would be relatively small and not worth it. Moreover, CCS technologies are part of the components to reduce climate change, but not the main one. It is required that governments, companies, and institution focus their efforts in working collaboratively towards the enforcement of new policies and development of more technologies. / text