Sustainable efficient lighting has become as one of the most important issues in the office environment In Sweden, energy demand for lighting corresponds to 20% of the total electricity used in office buildings (1), while It has been estimated that lighting accounts for about 20% of the total power generation of the world (2). This thesis investigates how to make lighting in offices more sustainable and focuses on energy efficiency, to save energy through creating guidelines related to light source technologies, lighting control systems and the user preferences. Then those guidelines are applied to an existing office through suggesting a new lighting design. The existing office in this case is the ÅF company 10th office floor located in Stockholm, Sweden. This investigation methodology consists of two main parts literature review and Project (case) study. In the first part, methods used are a combination of literature review related to saving energy through sustainability in lighting and how light source technology, lighting control systems and the effect of user behavior could help to create more energy efficient lighting systems. In the second part, the methods are qualitative such as surveys, quantitative methods and personal observations. The used methods helped to create guidelines for the new suggested lighting design for ÅF 10 th office floor part. The Results shows that the new suggested lighting design saves energy up to 31.96% more than the current lighting situation.

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Builiding Savings - legal and economic issues Supervision enforcement in the area of building savings Abstract The aim of the thesis was to summarize supervisory procedures in building savings with a special focus on the scope of the Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. The first part of the thesis defines basic concepts, the relevant basic theoretical issues of supervisory procedures in the field of financial law and the purpose of general terms and conditions are also mentioned. The third and fourth parts of the work are crucial. The third part focuses on the competence of the Ministry of Finance in the field of building savings. Separate chapters are devoted to the approval of the general terms and conditions of building savings banks, the implementation of the agenda related to the payment and return of the state support of building savings, as well as the actual exercise of state supervision of compliance with the state support conditions laid down by the Building Savings Act. Special attention is paid to the information system, the operation and administration of which is essential for the performance of the Ministry of Finance's competence in building savings. The fourth part consists of considerations on selected supervisory issues in the field of building savings. It contains reflection on...

The study evaluates sustainability aspects of small scale biogas production in Yogyakarta Province of Indonesia. Growing number of livestock (i.e. cows, sheep, chicken, pigs, and other domestic animals) in the region brings opportunity to produce biogas from livestock manure, leading to improve energy security especially in household, while contributing to renewable energy target which is 31% from Total Primary Energy Demand (TPES) in all sectors by 2050. Biogas potential from cattle, horse, buffalo, pig, sheep, goat, chicken and duck which own by household in all regencies within the province of Yogyakarta (i.e. Bantul, Gunung Kidul, Kulon Progo, Sleman, and City of Yogyakarta) are calculated. Biogas digesters types and options for biogas utilization are evaluated by set of indicators in terms of technical, economic and environmental dimensions. Performance of the four types of digesters (i.e. fixed dome, floating drum, polyethylene tubular and concrete tubular digester) are examined based on the dimensions. For digester assessment, the dimensions are divided into several indicators, such as the lifetime, process efficiency, capital cost, operation and maintenance cost, feed-to-water ratio. The assessment would ensure that installation of biogas have optimum technical performance, attractive investment for the owner, and does not exploit too much natural resources. Equal weighted sum method is used to compare the digesters performance. The second assessment is to evaluate options for off-grid electricity use and cooking based on several indicators which are levelized cost of energy (LCOE), Net Present Value (NPV), Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Benefit-to-Cost Ratio (BCR), Payback period and emissions saving. The production of biofertilizer, which is not part of the current system, is taken into account for additional income for biodigester’s user. The study estimates 1,211.35 TJ/year of biogas energy can be produced from livestock manure or equals to 44.72% of the total energy consumption in the household sector in Yogyakarta province in 2013. Gunung Kidul Regency has the most potential biogas from livestock, followed by Kulon Progo, Sleman, Bantul, then City of Yogyakarta. Utilization of biogas for household cooking could reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the province up to 1,260.66 MtCO2e per year while biogas for electricity reduce 1,562.144 3   MtCO2e annually. The fixed dome digester obtains the highest score in the most of indicators assessed. For biogas utilization, biogas for cooking shows better performance in economic and environmental aspects. Biogas for cooking requires lower capital cost (US$ 850 less) and get higher NPV (US$ 2,000 more) than biogas for electricity. Yet, biogas for electricity save 301.48 MtCO2e more GHG emission than biogas for cooking. From digester and biogas utilization assessments, household biogas in Yogyakarta has been used the sustainable option for digester, which is fixed dome digester, and biogas utilization, which is biogas for cooking. Furthermore, sensitivity analysis is done to know parameters that affect NPV for biogas for cooking and biogas for electricity. Biogas yields, fertilizer price, and LPG price are shown as the top three parameters that affect NPV for biogas for cooking utilization. While for biogas for electricity, the affecting parameter are electricity price, biogas yields, fertilizer price, and generator efficiency. From the sensitivity analysis, several recommendations were developed to maximize the current project. The recommendations are improvement of biogas stove efficiency, recommendation for biogas installation system, creating market demand for biogas by diminishing LPG subsidy, suggestion for progress monitoring and institutional recommendation for the program. Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource done several monitoring to check whether the digester is still operating. However, there is no follow-up action for digester that is not operating anymore. On the other hand, Yayasan Rumah Energi (YRE), the main provider of biogas installation and service in Yogyakarta Province, conduct annual user survey. This survey focuses on satisfaction level of digester’s user after installation. Investigation regarding the impact of biogas project, such as energy shift from LPG to biogas and digestate utilization, is missing. Besides biogas for cooking, there are opportunity to develop biogas for electricity since several regencies in Yogyakarta does not have 100% electrification ratio, such as Gunung Kidul (82%) and City of Yogyakarta (69%). Due to available biogas potential, development of biogas for electricity in Gunung Kidul is more promising than in City of Yogyakarta. Additionally, research of biogas in Indonesia should be integrated with industries and private sector. For instance, by mass production of low cost generator which had been developed by Indonesian Institute for Sciences (LIPI) and by developing mini grid installation for biogas.

This study assesses cost savings associated with specific contraceptive methods provided to beneficiaries enrolled in South Carolina Medicaid between 2012 and 2018. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios, defined as the additional cost of contraception provision per live birth averted, were estimated for 4 contraceptive methods (intrauterine devices [IUDs], implants, injectable contraceptives, and pills), relative to no prescription method provision, and savings per dollar spent on method provision were calculated. Costs associated with publicly funded live births were derived from published sources. The analysis was conducted for the entire Medicaid sample and separately for individuals enrolled under low-income families (LIFs), family planning, and partners for healthy children (PHC) eligibility programs. Sensitivity analysis was performed on contraceptive method costs. IUDs and implants were the most cost-effective with cost savings of up to $14.4 and $7.2 for every dollar spent in method provision, respectively. Injectable contraceptives and pills each yielded up to $4.8 per dollar spent. However, IUDs and implants were less cost-effective than injectable contraceptives and pills if the average length of use was less than 2 years. Medicaid's savings varied across Medicaid eligibility programs, with the highest and lowest savings from contraceptive provision to women in the LIFs and PHC eligibility programs, respectively. The results suggest the need to account for unique needs and preferences of beneficiaries in different Medicaid eligibility categories during contraception provision. The findings also inform program administration and provide evidence to justify legislative appropriations for Medicaid reproductive health care services.

Volunteers have been present in healthcare settings for centuries, however there is little empirical evidence supporting the impact that volunteers make on hospital performance. Since the 1990s, hospitals in the United States have had a great deal of pressure to produce high quality care at minimum expense. With the pressures of managed care and accrediting agencies, the benefits of using volunteers in a hospital setting are multiplied. Furthermore, as the population of the United States grows and the aging population creates more healthcare needs, the need for volunteers in hospitals may increase. This study utilized multiple regression analysis to explore the belief that the volunteer workforce is cost effective and can greatly enhance quality in a hospital setting. Hospitals throughout the state of Florida were invited to participate in the study by completing a brief questionnaire about their volunteer programs. Performance indicators of profit margin, volunteer cost savings, and patient satisfaction scores were analyzed using American Hospital Association and Agency for Health Care Administration data sets along with data obtained from the questionnaire. Results indicate that the use of volunteers offer significant cost savings to hospitals. Furthermore, the assignment of volunteers in patient settings can enhance a hospital's patient satisfaction scores. It also suggests that there is a need to further explore the impact of volunteers on other performance measures. Future research opportunities and policy recommendations are suggested.

Energy utilization issues are becoming increasingly important around the world. Existing residential and building service sectors represent a large part of total energy utilization, and the corresponding operational costs and environmental impacts are high. Retrofitting is considered an effective way to accelerate the sustainable transformation of the existing building stock. In Sweden, 1945–1975 was a boom period for the construction of residential buildings. After 40–70 years of use, large contingents of buildings need to be systematically retrofitted. In the past, most Swedish buildings were retrofitted individually, and occasionally in small clusters. Cost-effective retrofitting for large-scale implementation has not yet been substantially attained. Standardizing and industrializing the retrofitting process is expected to produce the following benefits: availability of standardized toolkits based on building typologies; simplified and more efficient decision-making process; lower retrofitting costs; shorter project durations; greater resource-efficiency; lower environmental impact; and higher profitability.The overall aim of the present study is to contribute to the knowledge regarding industrialized retrofitting toolkits in Swedish residential buildings and evaluate the various toolkits. More specifically, the study aims to analyze the energy demand saving potential of different retrofitting measures and long-term profits based on the typology of residential buildings. Based on a systematic set of building properties and classification of existing residential types in Sweden, four slab houses (lamellhus) were selected as the major sub-types of building stock for the demonstration cases. The case buildings were constructed between 1945 and 1975 and are currently used as single-family houses, multi-family houses, or apartment blocks. The main approaches applied to model the retrofitting profits were Consolis Energy +, parametric-based sensitivity analysis, and life-cycle-based economic assessment.Based on the theoretical modeling and analytical results from the case studies, it was found that the energy-saving potential is strongly dominated by the building type, which affects the design of retrofitting toolkits and defines life cycle costs. The results show that improving the efficiency of heat recovery in exhaust ventilation systems is an effective retrofitting measure for energy demand savings in the studied building types. However, the efficiency of other measures is highly dependent on the typology of the buildings. From an economic perspective, toolkits that include all of the possible retrofitting measures may not lead to larger expected reduction in LCC compared to standard retrofits that only include the most sensitive parameters. In addition, the impacts of energy price changes to the LCC in the future are highly diverse in different types of residential buildings. Developing systematic retrofitting guidelines for Swedish residential buildings requires both further research and a close collaboration between all stakeholders involved in the retrofitting process. / <p>QC 20131118</p>

Artificial Intelligence has recently attracted attention due to its rapid advancement in various industries such as the healthcare and finance industry. The intersection between AI and entrepreneurship is still being studied, and this study explores the impact of AI-tools on startups, with a focus on Swedish startups. The study explores the utilization of AI- tools to optimize their operations or capture new opportunities. It also examines their alignment to The Lean Startup Development, designed to help entrepreneurs to navigate through challenges they face when launching a product or a service. The primary contribution is of qualitative nature, using semi-structured interviews with individuals from startups implementing AI-technologies. Interpretation of the data is done through thematic analysis, which involves identifying themes and core categories.  The startups use the AI-tools for strategic internal planning and operations. The findings suggest that the AI- tools are commonly used to minimize costs, automate certain tasks, saving time to focus more on complex tasks and thereby enhancing efficiency which gradually leads to strengthened competitiveness. Interestingly, the participating startups show a consideration for ethical risks making more careful decisions on the information provided by the AI-tools.

Sustainableefficient lighting is becoming seen as one of the mostimportant issues in the office environment In Sweden, energydemandfor lighting corresponds to 20 of the total electricity use in officebuildings 31 while lighting form on average 33 1 of the electricityconsumption in UK office buildingsThisthesis investigate how to make lighting in offices more sustainableand focus on energy efficiency, to save energy through creating guidelinesrelated to light source technologies lighting control systems and the userbehavior then apply those guidelines to an existing office throughsuggesting a new lighting designTheexisting office in this case is the ÅF company 10 th office floor locatedin Stockholm SwedenThisinvestigation methodology consist of 2 main parts literature review andProject ( study At the first part, methods used are a combination ofliterature review related to saving energy through sustainability in lightingand how light source technology lighting control systems and the effect ofuser behavior could help to create more energy efficient lighting systemsAtthe second part, methods used in the Project study analyzed throughqualitative methods through surveys in addition to quantitative methodthrough and personal observations The used methods helped to createguidelines for the new suggested lighting design for ÅF 10 th office floorpartTheResults shows that the new suggested lighting design saved up to31 96 than the current lighting situation3

Cooling, Heating and Power (CHP) systems have been recognized as a key alternative for thermal energy and electricity generation at or near end-user sites. CHP systems can provide electricity while recovering waste heat to be used for space and water heating, and for space cooling. Although CHP technology seems to be economically feasible, because of the constant fluctuations in energy prices, CHP systems cannot always guarantee economic savings. However, a well-designed CHP system can guarantee energy savings, which makes necessary the quantification of non-conventional benefits from this technology in order to offset any economic weakness that can arise as consequence of energy prices. Some aspects that could be included in a non-conventional evaluation are: building energy rating, emission of pollutants, power reliability, power quality, fuel flexibility, brand and marketing benefits, protection from electric rate hikes, and benefits from promoting energy management practices. This study focuses on two aspects: building energy rating and emission reduction of pollutants, related to CHP system energy performance. Two methodologies have been developed in order to estimate the energy related benefits from CHP technology. To determine the energy performance, a model has been developed and implemented to simulate CHP systems in order to estimate the building-CHP system energy consumption. The developed model includes the relevant variables governing CHP systems such as: type and size of the components, individual component efficiencies, system operating mode, operational strategy, and building demand for power, heating, and cooling. The novelty of this model is the introduction of the Building Primary Energy Ratio (BPER) as a parameter to implement a primary energy operational strategy, which allows obtaining the best energy performance from the building-CHP system. Results show that the BPER operational strategy always guarantees energy savings. On the other hand, results from a cost-oriented operational strategy reveal that for critical design conditions, high economic savings can be obtained with unacceptable increment of energy consumption. For Energy Star Rating and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating, results show that CHP systems have the ability to improve both ratings.