During the period 2009-2013, investments in the Swedish national grid increase by a factor of ten compared to previous years. In order to fulfil their mission to manage the national grid in a safe, efficient and environmentally sound way, Svenska Kraftnät (Swedish National Grid) needs to take all these perspectives into account while planning new investments. To compare and relate perspectives of technology, economy and environment the same yard stick must be used. That yard stick is commonly money. A problem arises however as environmental issues are difficult to price. The purpose of this master’s degree project was to develop a tool for evaluation of environmental impact related to investments in the Swedish national grid. It was initiated by and conducted at the unit for Grid development at Svenska Kraftnät. A life cycle perspective  was used and the following stages were identified: material production, construction, operation and decommissioning. The environmental impact from these stages was sorted into ten impact categories using the LCIA method ReCiPe 2008 and then two economical evaluations were performed: one at midpoint level and one at endpoint level. Also included in the evaluation were the change in power losses or in the power production mix and the visual impact coming from overhead transmission lines. The tool was implemented in Excel and offers the possibility to evaluate the environmental impact from five different power line technologies (per km), substation line bays (per bay), transformers (per piece) and reactors (per piece). The main results show that AC land cable has a significantly higher environmental impact and cost than the other power line technologies. Material production and construction are the life cycle stages that contribute the most to the environmental cost. The impact categories that affect the environmental cost the most are climate change (for midpoint evaluation) and resource depletion (for endpoint evaluation). When the investment affects the power production mix, e.g. by changing the transmission capacity to another country, the subsequent environmental impact can be very influential on the total environmental cost of the investment.

As a result of harmful textile production, sustainability has become the movement by which the apparel industry explores solutions to improve procedures in fashion design to maintain a healthy environment. However, the issue is consumers trust the sustainability claims and marketing materials of apparel products at face value without knowing its environmental impact. The overall purpose of this research was to compare the environmental implications of widely produced and owned apparel products through a life cycle assessment approach. This life cycle assessment study examines key environmental impact categories of the materials and production phase (cradle to gate) of a pair of jeans and a cotton t-shirt. The specific purpose of this study was to identify if the production processes make a sustainable product at the point of purchase. Furthermore, this research study compares the environmental impacts of a denim jean and dyed cotton t-shirt utilizing the ReCipe 2008 LCA tool.