Every day 493 tonnes of waste containing 67% of organic material is generated in the city of El Alto in Bolivia. The majority of the waste is disposed to a landfill that is expected to reach its maximum capacity by 2015. Therefore, new waste treatment methods need to be explored. The high content of organic material in waste makes biogas technologies a potential solution for waste treatment in El Alto. These technologies can generate a renewable energy source and organic fertilizer that can provide several benefits to the city. The objective of this study is to investigate the techno-economic feasibility of a small-scale biogas plant for treating organic market waste in the city of El Alto. To this end, a multi-criteria analysis was performed to identify a suitable technology. The garage-shaped digester was selected as the most appropriate technology for the conditions of El Alto. By implementing this technology, 1.8 GWh of electricity and 2,340 tonnes of organic fertilizer can be produced annually. Furthermore, an economic analysis of two scenarios was conducted. The Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return, Payback time, Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCOE) and sensitivity analysis were evaluated. The biogas plant resulted economically viable in both cases. However, the LCOE estimated (0.17-0.26 USD/kWh) were very high in comparison to the LCOE from natural gas in Bolivia (0.026 USD/kWh). Regarding the sensitivity analysis, several parameters were evaluated from which the compost price was the most influential on changing the NPV. The study also included the estimation of the emission savings. A total of 900 tonnes of CO2/year could be avoided for producing electricity from biogas. Moreover, social benefits could also be generated such as new job opportunities. The use of a small-scale biogas plant for treating organic market waste in the city of El Alto is a cost-effective option. Though, it is fundamental that the government support the waste-to-biogas technologies by introducing economic mechanisms and promoting awareness to ensure the markets for both, biogas and organic fertilizer.

In the developed world, the existing stock of houses will provide shelter to the majority of population in the upcoming years. Houses are physical objects that consume material and energy and need to be maintained, repaired and restructured from time to time. In order to fulfill the requirements of the Kyoto protocol and be comfortable for their inhabitants, the existing stock needs to be renovated. Strong disagreement between different parts of the scientific community and overlapping and contradictory concepts make the definition of sustainable renovation confusing. In this Thesis, therefore, an approach of renovation and operation for higher energy efficiency and lower climate impact has been the main focus. Based on a systems analysis approach, the aim of this work is to develop a manual to stimulate house owners to become role models in sustainable renovation and operation of family houses, the Thesis providing recommendations to reducing the energy consumption of their houses by evaluating cost and benefits of possible actions and choosing the most energy and cost effective approach of a series of alternatives. With the results of this analysis, a sustainable renovation and operation staircase is proposed. The work found that it is possible develop a staircase manual for sustainable renovation and operation of family houses that follows a logical step-by-step approach and could result in considerable life cycle reductions in both costs and climate impact. The work also suggests that it is possible for academic experts to develop material in a simpler form and language to reach the public in a more understandable form.

The village-based microfinance approach Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) has been implemented in developing countries for three decades, and is found to be an effective tool in alleviating poverty and facilitating access to financial services in rural areas.  This study, done in collaboration with Vi Agroforestry, aimed to investigate the impact of VSLA activities on female empowerment in Rwanda, and more specifically, how women's access to and control over assets have been affected by VSLA participation. The term 'female empowerment' refers to the process by which women gain control and power over their own life situations and their ability to make strategic choices, that is, the capacity to turn choices into desired actions and outcomes.  A qualitative methodology has been used, where the main data collection consisted of six individual interviews with VSLA staff responsible for implementing, monitoring and evaluating VSLA groups in six different districts, and two focus group interviews with female VSLA participants in two different districts, carried out during April and May 2021.  The findings show that VSLA participation significantly accelerates the process of female empowerment in both household and community domains for women in Rwanda and that VSLA is an efficient first step in moving from a marginalised position in the society. However, women are still in many cases restricted from claiming all potential benefits from VSLA participation by structures that dictate normative gender roles and power structures. The findings highlight the importance of continued gender-related and financial training in order to further increase female access to and control over resources through VSLAs.

The thesis "Who saves or does not save the energy: Uncovering the reasons for practicing energy-saving activities in households" identifies the segments which tend to (not) perform selected household energy saving activities and discover the reasons behind the (non) practicing these activities. The author uses both quantitative and qualitative approach. By quantitative approach, the author analyzes data from pilot project PURGE in order to identify segments which are more likely to do selected activities. Emphasis is placed on class position. The author's own qualitative survey by semi-structured interviews identifies the reasons behind this activities. Generally, the author discovered that the upper classes practice energy- saving activities more often than the lower classes which is consistent with findings that lower classes tend to perform habitual behavior and rely on technology and upper classes tend to calculate and study the effect of these activities. Among lowest educational category are (compared with other educational groups) more people who leave always or often turned on the television or radio, even when no one is watching. Women state more likely than men that they never turn down heating when leaving home for more than four hours, what corresponds to findings that arise from...

Under vinterhalvåret krävs snöröjning på en flygplats och den processen utgör idag ett hinder för flygtrafiken. Snöröjningsprocessen av en landningsbana ser olika ut beroende på flygplats i världen. Swedavia driver ett världsledandeprojekt som avser att automatisera snöröjningsprocessen. Denna rapport visar det ekonomiska resultat som erhålls som följd av att den inre effektiviteten ökas i snöröjningsprocessen. Detta visas genom fyra effektivitetsmått - resursnyttjande, kapabilitet, flexibilitet och ledtid. Resultatet från samtliga effektivitetsmått visar ett övertygande samband mellan processeffektivitet och reducerade kostnader. Andra områden där kostnadsbesparingar kan undersökas är leanslöserier. Leanslöserier har undersökts under projektet och en förbättring har konstaterats inom flera områden, men magnituden har inte beaktats i detta arbete. / Snow removal at the airports is a requirement during the period of October-March. The snow removal process is currently an obstacle for arriving and departing air traffic. Swedavia is implementing a world-leading project with intentions to automate the snow removal process. This report’s purpose is to visualize the financial result because of the increasing inner efficiency of the snow removal process. Resource utilization, capability, flexibility and lead time were used as criteria to illustrate the relation between process efficiency and reduced costs. Using these four criteria, all results indicate a connection between process efficiency and reduced costs. Other areas where cost reduction may be investigated are lean wastes. Lean wastes have been investigated during this project and improvements have been noted in several areas. However, the cost-saving magnitude of these improvements is not considered in this report.

The aim of the study is to see if a digital tool can combine the benefits of shopping online, with the perks of purchasing groceries in a physical store. Previous research in the area has found that grocery shopping online isn’t growing at the same pace as normal retail shopping online. The previous studies have narrowed this down to mainly being because consumers want the touch, feel and inspect groceries with an expiry date. Previous research has also found that consumers don’t want to wait for the delivery of groceries, and that some consumers consider the process of walking around in a grocery store relaxing and enjoyable. There’s also been previous research made around the concept of cross-shopping, something this study made use of, as well as consumers' different transportation methods in conjunction with shopping.The study first conducted a survey, which gathered input from 140 consumers, from different demographics. The survey was aimed to be used as a foundation for the app that was developed. The initial survey was also inline with both the hypothesis of the researchers, as well as previous work in the area. The app was then pushed out as an alpha release to 16 testers, who gave their input on what was working well, what wasn’t working, and which features they could see giving a better experience. Already here, the result was positive, showing several good effects of the app, with a vast majority of users both finding it useful and money saving. Based on the input gathered from the alpha testing, the app was further developed and pushed out in a beta release to three testers of different age groups, with whom more in-depth interviews were conducted. The main purpose of the interviews was to get an overview of how different generations used the application and if it changed their behavior somehow while testing it. 75% of the Alpha testers responded that they managed to save money while testing the app and 95% felt that it had in some form helped them plan their grocery shopping. The beta interviews showed a shift in store loyalty and a change for the better in their shopping behaviour. Features such as collaborative shopping lists were shown to be very useful during the COVID-19 pandemic as it helped families carrying out the shopping for their elders. Participants also stated that the app helped them become more conscious about both cost and the environmental effects their shopping can have.The data gathered from the surveys and interviews indicate that a majority of consumers are more interested in features that involve planning and price comparing and not so much the buying or ordering of products itself. A digital tool developed for grocery shopping should focus on being a part of a consumers shopping journey and not replace it. Key features that this study has deemed to be essential are primarily the ability to create and share shopping lists containing real time information from handpicked stores and displayal of promotions and price comparison in a highlighted manner.

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This research explores the impact of various forms of capital flows on economic growth and development for a group of 120 countries from 1980-2007. Traditional growth literature as well as the textbook theory of economic growth looks at capital flows as playing a vital role in fostering economic growth and development. The textbook theories, as well as the existing approaches to study the capital flows and economic development connection, use growth and development interchangeably. This analysis, examines the consequences of different capital flows on growth and development separately because the determinants of growth may not be the same as the determinants of development. This distinction becomes even more applicable when observing the cases of countries that have experienced economic growth during certain periods but were unable to translate the increase in economic growth to development. To investigate the impact of various forms of capital flows, this dissertation utilizes life expectancy in addition to economic growth, as a measure of development. The results from using the two measures show that capital flows have dissimilar impact on life expectancy as well as economic growth. The central proposition of this dissertation is that not all forms of capital flows are created equal. Furthermore, countries at different levels of development may differ in their absorptive capacity of the capital. Thus, the ability of a country to harness capital for development depends upon its absorptive capacity, presence of domestic resources and the capabilities of national governments. This study therefore not only looks at the role played by various forms of capital flows on growth and development, but also takes into account the role of political performance of national governments that can play an important role in maximizing the efficiency of the investments. To investigate what kinds of flows are beneficial at different levels of development, this analysis further divides the dataset into three samples of developed countries, emerging markets and less developed countries. The results indicate that the impact of different capital flows varies across the three subsamples. By categorizing capital flows into categories of international capital flows, domestic capital, and remittances, this research also finds that the type of investment, as well as the source of investment (foreign vs. domestic), indeed does matter. The analysis suggests that the key to harnessing capital for development lies with capable governments and efficient use of domestic resources. In absence of capable governments, influx of foreign capital flows can manifest itself in ways that are harmful to the progress of developing societies.

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.

Digital aid to increase financial inclusion in developing countries is an increasing area of interest growing together with the global expansion of mobile phone penetration. This paper analyzes technical, social and financial aspects of the possibility of digitizing Xitique, a local community-based microfinance model in rural Mozambique. The aim was to understand the technical requirements of building a GSM based application while preserving cultural importance and the native features of the Xitique savings method. Data was gathered through field studies, where technical experts and the target group, being rural women, provided extensive contributions for the thesis’ findings. The results proved substantial evidence supporting the motive of developing a Xitique application from both a social as well as economic perspective. This was supported by the expressed customer demand that, as part of the result, emanated in a prototype and sustainable Social Business Model for the Xitique application’s service / Användning av digitala hjälpmedel för att öka ekonomiska inkludering i utvecklingsländer är ett växande intresseområde som tilltar tillsammans med den globala expansionen av mobilanvändning. I denna rapport analyseras tekniska, sociala och finansiella aspekter av möjligheten att digitalisera Xitique, en lokal samhällsbaserad mikrofinansmodell på landsbygden i Moçambique. Syftet med arbetet var att förstå de tekniska kraven för en GSM-baserad applikation och hur kulturell betydelse bäst kunde bevaras genom den digitala imitationen av de existerande metoderna som används i den traditionella Xitiquen. Data samlades genom fältstudier där tekniska experter och målgruppen, kvinnor på landsbygden, gav omfattande bidrag till avhandlingens resultat. Resultatet visade att det fanns väsentliga bevis som stöder motivet att utveckla en Xitique-applikation från både ett socialt som ekonomiskt perspektiv. Detta understödjs vidare av den uttryckta efterfrågan hos kvinnorna, som en del av resultatet, ledde till en prototyp och en hållbar social affärsmodell för en Xitique-applikation.