<p>Energiområdet och arbetet med ökad energieffektivisering har blivit ett alltmer aktuellt område i dagens samhälle. En minskad energianvändning är gynnsam för miljö och klimat och är även attraktiv ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv.</p><p>Industrisektorn har potential att effektivsera sin användning av energi men de åtgärder som finns att tillgå för att uppnå detta vidtas inte fullt ut. Detta beror på att det finns ett antal hinder som bromsar arbetet med energieffektivisering. Denna studie fokuserar på dessa hinder men även på de drivkrafter som kan användas för att motivera arbetet med energieffektivisering. Dessa hinder och drivkrafter diskuteras i studien ur ett organisationsteoretiskt perspektiv.</p><p>I studien framträder ekonomi och inre samt yttre påverkan (exempelvis personligt intresse, krav och konkurrens) som de starkaste drivkrafterna för energieffektivisering. De mest framträdande hindren för energieffektiviseringsarbetet är relaterade till struktur, planering, kommunikation, kultur och energitekniska faktorer.</p><p>De slutsatser som dras i denna studie är att det framförallt är viktigt att arbeta aktivt för att etablera en struktur och kultur som är gynnsam för förändringsarbete. Detta bör kunna uppnås genom en ökad ansvarsfördelning och involvering av personal på alla nivåer inom företaget. I arbetet för att uppnå detta spelar välfungerande kommunikationskanaler en avgörande roll.</p>

<p>I allt större utsträckning blir det vanligare för företag att redovisa sina utsläpp av växthusgaser, främst koldioxid. Linköpings Universitet (LiU) fastställde genom sina miljömål att en klimatstrategi skulle upprättas för att få kännedom om hur verksamheten påverkar klimatet via utsläpp av koldioxid samt tänkbara åtgärder för förbättring. Genom identifiering och kvantifiering av problem kan förutsättningar skapas för att möjliga lösningar initieras som i sin tur kan ge såväl ekonomiska som miljömässiga vinster.</p><p>Studien syftar till att med hjälp av backcastingmetoden upprätta en klimatstrategi, samt ge förslag till konkreta åtgärder för LiU. Det empiriska materialet består utav statistik inhämtad från 2006: års data från: energianvändning, tjänsteresor samt hyrbilsverksamhet. Empiri har även inhämtats via en workshop med Universitetsledning och forskare inom LiU.</p><p>De slutsatser som dragits genom denna studie är att det med hjälp av backcasting är möjligt att skapa en klimatstrategi. Mer specifika slutsatser dragna för LiU´s kommande strategiarbete är energieffektivisering, alternativa transportsätt avseende tjänsteresor samt alternativa mötesformer.</p>

<p>This research was set out to understand the underlying causes for the lack of knowledgeregarding the environmental field in Hong Kong and South China and get a basic view of thedifficulties Environmental Management Systems (EMS) encounter when being put intopractice. Interviews and factory visits were used to collect data needed to build this report.The interviews had the aim to understand how companies in Hong Kong and China managetheir environmental related work. An EMS is a set of processes and practices that enable anorganization to reduce its environmental impacts and increase its operating efficiency, buthow was the use of such systems affecting the environmental work in reality.A total of eight persons from six different companies were interviewed. With the aim tounderstand how EMS were implemented and used from their point of view. The maindifficulty for the companies asked was the task of understanding and documenting theprocesses of ones own company. With differences such as language, culture, etc present thereis a need for a mutual ground. In the environmental field EMS are used as the commonground. Western companies are, because of the use of EMS, able to attain a picture of theenvironmental work and processes of their industrial partners in the China and Hong Kong.The result of this research shows that there still are many obstacles, for environmentalmanagement systems used by SME, left to address. There are cultural as well asinfrastructural problems that need to be addressed. It is therefore important to alter EMS inco ordinance with the Chinese social environment that it will be used in.</p>

Mercury is the only metal that is in liquid form at room temperature and it has over the years been used in various combinations to extract gold, in measuring devices, medicaments, paper industry, batteries and fluorescent lights as well as in dentistry as dental amalgam. Dental amalgam is a mixture of 50 % mercury and 50% of an alloy consisting of silver, tin, copper and zink particles and has been used in dentistry for many years. The environmental effect of mercury release into the sewer from dental practices and clinics, and the inability of the wastewater treatment plants to remove it from the sludge lead to the introduction of amalgam separators in Sweden in 1980. The ISO standard 11143 regulates the efficacy of the amalgam separators, which should be at a 95% level, but is based on a laboratory test rather than a clinical evaluation. This study looks at the available amalgam separators in use in four areas of Sweden, Uppsala, Stockholm, Östergötland and Skåne and compares their clinical efficiency. The clinical efficiency ranged between 75 to 95%, with most units below the 90% mark. In Östergötland a new improved separator is being tried, the Capere unit, which is based on finely ground pine bark treated with a chelator sensitive to all metals and used in conjunction with a cotton filter and a regular amalgam separator. This was shown to be superior to the other separators, with a 99, 9% removal of even the smallest amalgam particles and ionic mercury from the wastewater before leaving the clinic. Otherwise, combining more than one amalgam separator of the brands available on the Swedish market did not improve the efficiency of them.

Energiområdet och arbetet med ökad energieffektivisering har blivit ett alltmer aktuellt område i dagens samhälle. En minskad energianvändning är gynnsam för miljö och klimat och är även attraktiv ur ett ekonomiskt perspektiv. Industrisektorn har potential att effektivsera sin användning av energi men de åtgärder som finns att tillgå för att uppnå detta vidtas inte fullt ut. Detta beror på att det finns ett antal hinder som bromsar arbetet med energieffektivisering. Denna studie fokuserar på dessa hinder men även på de drivkrafter som kan användas för att motivera arbetet med energieffektivisering. Dessa hinder och drivkrafter diskuteras i studien ur ett organisationsteoretiskt perspektiv. I studien framträder ekonomi och inre samt yttre påverkan (exempelvis personligt intresse, krav och konkurrens) som de starkaste drivkrafterna för energieffektivisering. De mest framträdande hindren för energieffektiviseringsarbetet är relaterade till struktur, planering, kommunikation, kultur och energitekniska faktorer. De slutsatser som dras i denna studie är att det framförallt är viktigt att arbeta aktivt för att etablera en struktur och kultur som är gynnsam för förändringsarbete. Detta bör kunna uppnås genom en ökad ansvarsfördelning och involvering av personal på alla nivåer inom företaget. I arbetet för att uppnå detta spelar välfungerande kommunikationskanaler en avgörande roll.

I allt större utsträckning blir det vanligare för företag att redovisa sina utsläpp av växthusgaser, främst koldioxid. Linköpings Universitet (LiU) fastställde genom sina miljömål att en klimatstrategi skulle upprättas för att få kännedom om hur verksamheten påverkar klimatet via utsläpp av koldioxid samt tänkbara åtgärder för förbättring. Genom identifiering och kvantifiering av problem kan förutsättningar skapas för att möjliga lösningar initieras som i sin tur kan ge såväl ekonomiska som miljömässiga vinster. Studien syftar till att med hjälp av backcastingmetoden upprätta en klimatstrategi, samt ge förslag till konkreta åtgärder för LiU. Det empiriska materialet består utav statistik inhämtad från 2006: års data från: energianvändning, tjänsteresor samt hyrbilsverksamhet. Empiri har även inhämtats via en workshop med Universitetsledning och forskare inom LiU. De slutsatser som dragits genom denna studie är att det med hjälp av backcasting är möjligt att skapa en klimatstrategi. Mer specifika slutsatser dragna för LiU´s kommande strategiarbete är energieffektivisering, alternativa transportsätt avseende tjänsteresor samt alternativa mötesformer.

Electricity and district heating are the most important energy carriers for the residential and service sector in Sweden. Today, district heating supplies about half of the total heating requirement of residential and commercial premises in Sweden. The aim of this paper is the analysis of the heating system of a school, placed in Gävle, Sweden. The heat is delivered to the school by a district heating network. First of all, the Heat Balance must be done, with the purpose of obtain the best knowledge of the present situation in the school. The calculations about the transmission and ventilation losses and the internal heating generated have been showed. After this, the point of view has been focused on the district heating system itself. It is means, the distribution pipe system inside the school. The efficiency and accuracy of the net will be analysed and discussed. Three possible ways to improve the net will be showed. The first of all is the most simple: just take the pipe system and try to reduce the waste heat, the heat losses; the second choice is to make a new connection to the district heating network, joining all the buildings with one connection for each building –five more- instead of only the connection that exists at the moment when this paper was written; the third option seems as a different model of the second, it is means to divide all the school in two bigger parts and make another connection to the district heating network with the purpose of dividing the heating system in two equal parts. Thanks to the heat balance done in the school and in the district heating system, it is possible to know the waste of heat. Mainly, these losses are found in the district heating net. The amount of waste is around 17%, a really high amount of energy wasted, which must be reduced. According to the data of the company Gävle Energy, the waste in old buildings like the school which is under study in this paper, usually is between 15% and 20% of the supplied energy. So, this showed the accuracy of the method used to make this paper. According to the possibilities of improvement, it will depend on the ultimate decision of the Gävle Fastigheter, company which owns the school, to choose the way that could be better for their own interest. However, in this paper the prices and possible pay-back times are showed, in order to provide better information. Although the best solution has a total cost of 1750000 Swedish crowns (186289 €) and a pay-back time of 21 years –talking about making five new connections-, another cheaper possibility is also commented: improving the isolation of the pipe system, with a cost of 549000 SEK (58441 €) and a pay-back time near 7 years.

<p>The Swedish Road Administration (SRA) is responsible for maintenance of the state-run roads in Sweden. The SRA also has an overarching responsibility for the state of the environment in the road transport sector. The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the implementation of environmental requirements in SRA road maintenance contracts and to develop an improved model for the implementation of environmental requirements, making it easier for the SRA to establish an optimal contracting strategy for routine road maintenance. Using several qualitative methodologies, the thesis is mainly based on a content analysis of 18 tender documents, two case studies consisting of five cases and a questionnaire. The study shows that the SRA have stipulated environmental requirements in procurements of routine road maintenance since 1997. The formulation of the environmental requirements was initially carried out at the Regional Road Management Directorates. However, in the case of trucks and construction vehicles relevant organisations were given the opportunity to actively participate in the development of environmental requirements. The contractors in the study fulfil about three-quarters of the environmental requirements in the contracts. The main reasons for not complying with the environmental requirements are: i) absence of consultation with municipalities and competent authorities, and ii) inadequate communication of environmental requirements to subcontractors. The benefit to the environment of laying down environmental requirements for road maintenance is difficult to assess, due to unclear environmental requirements and the fact that the SRA does not systematically follow up the environmental requirements. The findings of the research indicate that the SRA have made a serious effort to integrate environmental aspects in their maintenance contracts through the use of environmental requirements. However, the SRA need to adopt a more systematic approach towards road maintenance contracts in order to make green procurement an effective tool for environmental adaptation of road maintenance. The thesis proposes an improved process for development, implementation and follow-up of environmental requirements. The proposed process can be summarised in five criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to achieve an environmentally efficient application of environmental requirements: i) the environmental requirements have to be based on legislation, environmental quality objectives, identified environmental problems and/or research, ii) environmental indicators and baselines have to be established in order to facilitate follow-up of compliance with the requirements, iii) the environmental requirements have to be stated clearly in order to limit misinterpretations and to facilitate follow-up, iv) the contractors have to develop working processes, routines and training based on the environmental requirements, v) routines for following-up compliance with the requirements and the environmental effectiveness need to be developed, and there has to be a feedback of the results. Furthermore, the purchasing function needs to be integrated with the implementation of the contracts. Although, having faced several problems during the introduction of environmental requirements, the SRA have managed to meet the main arguments that are used for justification of green procurement. However, if slightly changed, the process of green procurement has the potential of becoming an important tool in the work for enhancing the environmental performance of the SRA.</p>

<p>Given a special focus on Design for Environment (DfE) methods and tools, the objectives of this thesis are to, <i>“Identify basic design-related requirements that a method or tool should fulfill in order to become actively used by engineering designers”</i>, and to <i>“Investigate how those basic requirements could be used to make DfE methods and tools more actively used in industry among engineering designers”</i>.</p><p>The research has shown that designers in general have three main purposes for utilizing methods and tools, of which the last two could be seen as subsets of the first one. The purposes are to: (1) <i>facilitate various kinds of communication within the product development process;</i> (2)<i> integrate knowledge and experience into the methods and tools as a know-how backup;</i> and (3) contribute with structure in the product development process. The low degree of follow-up implies a risk that methods and tools are used that affect the work within the company in a negative way. In order to be able to better follow-up methods and tools regarding both their utilization and usefulness, there is a need for a better definition of requirements for methods and tools.</p><p>Most of all designers’ related requirements are related to their’ aims to fulfill the product performance and keep down the development time. This can be concluded as four major requirements, that a DfE method or tool, as well as a common method or tool, must exhibit: (1)<i> be easy to adopt and implement, </i>(2)<i> facilitate designers to fulfill specified requirements on the presumptive produc</i>t, and at the same time (3) <i>reduce the risk that important elements in the product development phase are forgotten</i>. Both these two latter requirements relate to a method or tool’s degree of appropriateness. The second and the third requirements are related to the fourth requirement, which is found to be the most important: that the use of the method or tool (4)<i> must reduce the total calendar time (from start to end) to solve the task.</i> The conclusion is that DfE methods and tools must be designed to comply to a higher degree with the main users - in this case the designers’ requirements for methods and tools</p>

<p>Upgradering av biogas med tekniken vattenabsorption är vanligt i Sverige. Elva biogasanläggningar med tillsammans fjorton uppgraderingsanläggningar använder sig av tekniken. Problem med igensättning av fyllkroppar i absorptionskolonnen, samt i ett fall i desorptionskolonnen är vanligt förekommande och har en negativ effekt på uppgraderingen av rågas till fordonsgas. Fem av de nio anläggningarna i denna studie har problem med mikrobiell tillväxt på fyllkropparna. Syftet med denna rapport var att identifiera den mikrobiella tillväxten och avgöra vilka faktorer som reglerar den för att kunna rådge driftsansvariga hur man motverkar tillväxt.</p><p>En enkät skickades ut och studiebesök gjordes för att samla information om anläggningarna. Fosfolipidfettsyra (PLFA)-analyser utfördes för att bestämma mikrobiell biomassa och de organismer, som kan indikeras av de PLFA som är s.k. biomarkörer.</p><p>Prover samlades in från fyra uppgraderingsanläggningar: Jönköping, Kristianstad, Linköping och Uppsala. Proverna som samlades in var till utseendet olika, allt från gult slem från Linköping till röd-brun gegga som liknade kaffe-sump från Uppsala. I proverna från Linköping och Uppsala detekterades biomarkörer för metanoxiderande bakterier (metanotrofer) av typ I. Metanotrofer finns i jord, vatten och luft i miljöer med tillgång till metan och syre. I Jönköpingsproverna detekterades biomarkörer actinomyceter som är en vanligt förekommande bakterie i avloppsreningsverkens luftningsbassänger. Den mikrobiella tillväxten som samlades in från Kristianstad räckte enbart till ett prov och därför är det resultatet ej tillförlitligt.</p><p>I samtliga prover detekterades svamp (fungi) som förmodligen etablerats efter andra organismer.</p><p>Faktorer som kan anses påverka den mikrobiella tillväxten är processvattnets kvalitet, pH och temperatur. Rent vatten (dricksvatten) innehåller mindre mängd organiskt material, samtliga anläggningar som använder sig av avloppsvatten upplever problem. Lågt pH är gynnsamt för att minska den mikrobiella tillväxten eftersom de flesta organismer trivs bäst vid neutralt pH. Låg temperatur är gynnsam eftersom lösligheten för koldioxid och divätesulfid är större vid lägre temperaturer, vilket gynnar uppgraderingen av biogas.</p> / <p>Upgrading of biogas performed using the technique absorption with water wash is common in Sweden where eleven biogas plants, comprising a total of fourteen upgrading plants use this technique. However problems with microbial growth on the pall-rings in the absorption column, and in one case in the desorption column, have negative impact on upgrading the raw gas to vehicle gas. Five of the nine biogas plants studied here have experienced problems with microbial growth. The objective of this report was to identify the microbial growth and determine possible factors regulating microbial growth in order to give advice to process management.</p><p>A questionnaire was sent out and visits were made to the upgrading plants to collect information about the plants. A phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was performed to determine microbial biomass and community structure, for which PLFA biomarkers are one type of indicator.</p><p>Samples were analysed from four upgrading plants: Jönköping, Kristinstad, Linköping and Uppsala. The cultures collected were visually different, varying from yellow and slimy to reddish brown with the consistency of coffee grounds. In the Linköping and Uppsala samples, biomarkers for methane-oxidising bacteria (type I methanotrophs) were detected. Methanotrophs live in environments with access to methane and oxygen and are inhibited by e.g. acetylene. In the Jönköping samples biomarkers indicating the bacteria actinomycetes common in the water of aeration tanks in sewage treatment plants, were detected. In Kristianstad there was only enough culture for one sample, so no reliable result was obtained. Fungi were detected in all samples and probably established after other organisms.</p><p>Factors affecting development of microbial growth were found to be water quality, pH and temperature of the process water. Clean water (drinking water) contains less organic material than cleaned water from sewage treatment plants. All plants using water from sewage treatment plants have experienced microbial growth. Low pH is beneficial for reducing microbial growth since most organisms prefer a neutral environment.</p><p>Low temperature is beneficial for minimising microbial growth since the solubility of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide increases with decreasing temperature.</p>