Thesis (M.Ing. (Electrical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Riksbyggen Fastighetsservice is a company whose businesses cope with building construction and related services. The local office of Riksbyggen Fastighetsservice in Gävle has been studied in this project. The local office locates in Näringen 20:4, which was constructed in 1989.   The aim of this project is to make a diagnosis of the current situation; find out the most applicable way of optimizing the operation of the facility in order to reduce the energy consumption, to study costs and possible savings and provide assistance with future energy management.      Firstly, a study of Energy Balance was conducted. The transmission losses was 57761 KWh; mechanical ventilation losses 3855 KWh; hot tap water heat losses 9579 KWh; natural transmission and infiltration 6897 KWh. On the other hand, heat gain from internal heat was 12707 KWh; solar radiation 8521 KWh; and supply heat 56806 KWh.   Secondly, the energy costs have been checked out. 29655 KWh of electricity was consumed in 2008. 5948 KWh was used by 20 fuses electricity and 23707 KWh was for 25 fuses. Lighting, electrical equipment and machine composed the electricity consumption. Lighting consumes 13278 KWh; equipment consumes 6452 KWh; and machine consumes 9925 KWh. Lighting electricity was composed by office lighting and workshop lighting with 4798 KWh and 8480 KWh respectively.   Electricity cost is very complicated and flexible in Sweden according to effect and consumption. The total cost of electricity consists of electricity commerce fee and electricity transmission net. Electricity commerce fee includes annual fixed fee, electricity fee, energy certificate and tax. Electricity transmission fee includes annual fixed transmission fee, grid fee and tax. Tax plays vital important role which results in huge total cost. The local office spent 43356 kr on electricity in 2008. 4798 kr was spent on office lighting, and 8480 kr was spent on workshop lighting.   On the other hand district heating fee is composed by annual fixed fee, effect fee, energy fee and tax. The local office spent 37142 kr on 56.806 MWh of district heating in 2008. Thus, the local office purchased 86461 KWh of energies and spent 80498 kr in total in 2008.   Thirdly, to assist its energy traces and management, three tables were designed. One table is for annual energy consumption and cost in each month with all information of sub-terms on costs. One table is for annual electricity consumption for each electrical equipment and cost in accordance. Another table is for district heating consumption and cost.    At last, energy saving possibilities was explored. One way is applying improvements or maintenance of the office construction. The result of Energy Balance shows that transmission losses were 57761 KWh which occupies 74% of the total losses, and it is the biggest bite. As the office was constructed in 1989, if improvements and maintenance can be applied to the insulation of floor, roof and walls, or change the windows, the heat losses can be reduced.   However, the other solution might be much more applicable and financial sound. Just go to Clas Ohlson to buy LED 1 W and 3 W lamps to replace the current bulbs. Spending 3009 kr to buy 51 LED incandescent bulbs of 1W effect, and 3576 kr on 24 LED fluorescent of 3W effect, will save 12057 kr every year. The lighting electricity consumption will be reduced from 13278 KWh / year to 264 KWh / year. Instead of spending 16017 kr on lighting, 98% will be reduced, and only 318 kr will be paid. Moreover, the payback is really nice, only 0.42 year. Action! The sooner the better! 20% of energy cost will be saved!

¡§The Financial Institution Merger Act¡¨ and ¡§Financial Holding Company Act¡¨ were legislated in 2000 and 2001 in Taiwan. Based on those Acts, there are 14 financial holding companies established till now . Except for Waterland Financial Holdings, the other 13 financial holding companies include banking industry business. It is obvious that the performance of bank does influence the performance of financial holding company. Bank joins in financial holding company hoping to provide ¡§one-stop shopping¡¨ diverse financial commodities to consumers through joint-marketing, sharing resources and equipment, and hoping to gain ¡§Cross Selling¡¨, ¡§Cost Savings¡¨ and ¡¨Capital Efficiency¡¨ performance¡]3C performance¡^. It expects to pursue broadly business scope and gain more profits through this business model. The research uses Mann-Whitney test of non-parametric statistics to examine the performance of the banking subsidiary of financial holding company in order to understand whether banks can gain expected efficiency after joining in financial holding company. The empirical results are listed as follow¡G First, the ¡§cross-selling¡¨ performance of the banks after joining in financial companies is better than those before joining in financial companies. While there are no significant differentials in ¡§cost-saving¡¨ and ¡§capital-efficiency¡¨ performance. Second, the ¡§profit ability¡¨ performance of the banks after joining in financial companies is better than those before joining in financial companies. Third, there are no significant differentials in growth ability between the banks after joining in financial companies and those before joining in financial companies. Fourth, the cross-selling performance and profit ability of the individual banks such as the Chinatrust Commercial Bank, Taishin International Bank, The International Commercial Bank of China, Cathay United Bank, Taipei Fubon Bank and E.Sun Bank after joining in financial companies is better than those before joining in financial companies. Fifth, the performance of ¡§cost-saving¡¨; ¡§profit ability¡¨; ¡§growth ability¡¨ and ¡§asset quality¡¨ of the banks affiliated to the financial holding companies is better than those not affiliated to the financial holding companies. Sixth, the overall performance of the banks affiliated to the financial holding companies is better than those not affiliated to the financial holding companies. But not all of the banks affiliated to the financial holding companies after joining in financial companies perform better than before. So the banks not affiliated to the financial holding companies can grasp their own niches and enforce core business. They can develop better than before even though their scale not big enough.

South African cement manufacturers are under financial pressure. Sales have declined due to the 2008 recession and electricity costs have tripled from 2005 to 2012. Electricity cost savings are therefore more important than ever. Unfortunately retrofitting highly energyefficient equipment is not ideal. These installations are costly and take a long time to implement. Alternative strategies that can produce quick results in reducing electricity costs are needed. One such alternative is a programme called Demand Market Participation (DMP). The DMP programme was implemented by Eskom, South Africa’s national electricity utility, to reduce electricity demand during supply shortages. This programme offers potential cost savings for clients with excess production capacity. Clients such as cement plants can switch off non-essential production equipment in Eskom’s peak demand periods for a financial incentive. To maximise the benefits for both the clients and Eskom, accurate electricity forecasting is needed, as are systems enabling a quick response to load reduction requests. In this study DMP opportunities on typical cement plants were identified. A DMP strategy to assist cement plants was developed to achieve maximum cost savings without influencing production, quality and safety. An existing energy management system (EnMS) was adapted to incorporate the new DMP participation strategy. The new EnMS and DMP strategy were implemented at a South African cement plant, resulting in savings of R220 000 per month. This translates into an annual cost-saving potential of R2-million for the plant, and an R13- million cost-saving potential for the total South African cement industry. / MIng (Mechanical Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

South Africa is currently facing a major electricity crisis due to the continuous growth in electricity demand. Eskom, the largest electricity supplier in South Africa, have enabled numerous methods to support energy reduction in both the residential and industrial sectors. Programs developed by Eskom to help the different major electricity consuming industries with the development of energy efficient and load shift strategies, have already been put into practice. These programs solely focus on the potential savings in megawatts each production sector might consist of. The key features of the Eskom electricity reduction initiative are driven by the energy efficiency concept and the peak demand load shift capability. Both the load shift and energy efficient initiatives are mostly active in the mining industry, because of the high electricity consumption levels of a standard mining operation. One of the most inefficient systems currently active within a mining operation is the ventilation control system. This dissertation describes the energy efficient and load shift research on the current underground ventilation system by means of certain design methodologies that might improve the inefficient operational features on both the standard underground auxiliary fans and the main surface fans. The operational features of a standard 2-pole 45 kW issued auxiliary fan were tested, by using a fan-testing column to compare the performance criteria to that of an improved auxiliary fan design. An energy saving potential on a single 45 kW unit of 11 kW was evident during the testing analysis. This amounted to an estimated annual energy saving potential of R 370,000.00 with a total saving of 561 kW on all the installed 45 kW units at Kopanang goldmine, by means of an investment in the replacement of the current installed units with that of the improved units. A secondary study was to gather information on the main surface fan operational features at Kopanang and Mponeng goldmines. The gathered information showed an estimated possibility for load shift and efficiency initiatives, which will result in fan operating life expansion and electricity savings capabilities. Annual electricity savings of up to R I ,500,000.00 were calculated on efficiency and load shift strategies and gave an indication on how costly inefficient operations are. The calculated I 0% increase in main fan efficiency resulted in an annual saving of nearly R 1,100,000.00 with a reduction of 1,05 MW at Mponeng goldmine and an annual saving of nearly R 721,000.00 with a reduction of 675 kW at Kopanang goldmine. The load shift potential at Mponeng and Kopanang goldmines were nearly 3,5 MW and 2,25 MW respectively. Capital investments from either Eskom or alternative investors will definitely play a crucial part in the realization of energy efficiency and load shift measures. It may include, improved fan installations, variable speed drives for the main fans and real time management systems. If the mine should decide to invest in these efficient strategies, the proposed Eskom DSM program might result in a net energy savings potential for any mining operation. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Electrical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

South Africa is currently facing a major electricity crisis due to the continuous growth in electricity demand. Eskom, the largest electricity supplier in South Africa, have enabled numerous methods to support energy reduction in both the residential and industrial sectors. Programs developed by Eskom to help the different major electricity consuming industries with the development of energy efficient and load shift strategies, have already been put into practice. These programs solely focus on the potential savings in megawatts each production sector might consist of. The key features of the Eskom electricity reduction initiative are driven by the energy efficiency concept and the peak demand load shift capability. Both the load shift and energy efficient initiatives are mostly active in the mining industry, because of the high electricity consumption levels of a standard mining operation. One of the most inefficient systems currently active within a mining operation is the ventilation control system. This dissertation describes the energy efficient and load shift research on the current underground ventilation system by means of certain design methodologies that might improve the inefficient operational features on both the standard underground auxiliary fans and the main surface fans. The operational features of a standard 2-pole 45 kW issued auxiliary fan were tested, by using a fan-testing column to compare the performance criteria to that of an improved auxiliary fan design. An energy saving potential on a single 45 kW unit of 11 kW was evident during the testing analysis. This amounted to an estimated annual energy saving potential of R 370,000.00 with a total saving of 561 kW on all the installed 45 kW units at Kopanang goldmine, by means of an investment in the replacement of the current installed units with that of the improved units. A secondary study was to gather information on the main surface fan operational features at Kopanang and Mponeng goldmines. The gathered information showed an estimated possibility for load shift and efficiency initiatives, which will result in fan operating life expansion and electricity savings capabilities. Annual electricity savings of up to R I ,500,000.00 were calculated on efficiency and load shift strategies and gave an indication on how costly inefficient operations are. The calculated I 0% increase in main fan efficiency resulted in an annual saving of nearly R 1,100,000.00 with a reduction of 1,05 MW at Mponeng goldmine and an annual saving of nearly R 721,000.00 with a reduction of 675 kW at Kopanang goldmine. The load shift potential at Mponeng and Kopanang goldmines were nearly 3,5 MW and 2,25 MW respectively. Capital investments from either Eskom or alternative investors will definitely play a crucial part in the realization of energy efficiency and load shift measures. It may include, improved fan installations, variable speed drives for the main fans and real time management systems. If the mine should decide to invest in these efficient strategies, the proposed Eskom DSM program might result in a net energy savings potential for any mining operation. / Thesis (M.Ing. (Electrical Engineering))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Today companies (especially large companies whose employees make a lot of international business trips) often have very large telephone bills. While international roaming technically works with GSM, the cost of phone calls from one country to another are often much higher than calls within a country. Despite political pressure to reduce the costs of roaming within the European Union, the cost of phone calls from one country to another are often quite expensive. A cost-saving solution is eagerly desired by many firms. OptiCall Solutions AB has designed an integrated system called the Dial over Data (DoD) solution. In this scheme, a caller sends a data request to the DoD server instead of directly making a call to the party that they wish to speak with. The DoD solution uses an Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX) to make two Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) calls, one to the caller and another to the callee, then bridges these two calls. To realize cost savings, the cost of these two calls and the cost of the infrastructure necessary to make the two calls and to bridge them must be lower than the cost of the direct call. Call Through is a service for making cheap international calls which is provided by many telecommunications companies. Instead of making a direct call to the party the caller wants to speak with, the caller makes a call to the local call-through service access number. The caller dials the actual callee’s number after the call is established. The service provider then makes a call to the callee and bridges the two calls. The caller only needs to pay for a local call and the service subscription fee, rather than the expensive international call fee. This can greatly reduce the costs for user who need to make a lot international calls. Today, many companies use such a call-through service in order to reduce the total cost of their employees’ calls. Additionally, the Mobile Extension (MEX) is a concept which gives mobile users the ability to use their mobile phone in the same manner as their fixed office phone, for example, by providing services such as setting presence and transferring a call. In addition, the user should experience a consistent interface, for example the calling number displayed for the callee should always be a number that the callee could use to return the call. In this thesis project, a mobile extension application called ‘OptiCaller’ based on the Symbian OS was developed and evaluated. This application is part of the DoD solution and provides client side functionality. Furthermore, it supports making call-through calls and using the MEX functions. Additionally, it is designed and implemented in a flexible way so that it can work with a variety of different PBX solutions. A provisioning system called ‘OptiCaller Provisioning System’ was also designed and evaluated. This provisioning system was tailored for the ‘OptiCaller’. It provides administrators a platform to manage the OptiCaller application on the end-users’ mobile phones. / Idag har företag (i synnerhet stora företag vars anställda gör en hel del internationella affärsresor) ofta mycket stora telefonräkningar. Även om internationell roaming fungerar tekniskt i GSM så är kostnaden för telefonsamtal från ett land till ett annat ofta mycket högre än samtal inom ett land. Trots politiska påtryckningar för att minska roamingkostnaderna inom EU, så är kostnader för telefonsamtal från ett land till ett annat ofta ganska dyra. En lösning som kan minska dessa kostnader välkomnas av många företag. OptiCall Solutions AB har utvecklat ett integrerat system som kallas Dial över Data (DoD). I detta system skickas först en samtalsbegäran från en klient till en server istället för att klienten direkt ringer ett samtal till den som de vill tala med. DoD systemet använder Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP-PBX) för att göra två Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) samtal, en till den som ringer och en den uppringda parten. Sedan kopplas dessa två samtal ihop. Värt att beakta är att kostnaden för denna infrastruktur samt att producera två samtal i stället för ett bör vara lägre än kostnaden för ett direkt samtal. Samtalskort är en tjänst för att göra billiga internationella samtal vilket erbjuds av flera telekommunikationsföretag. Istället för att göra ett direkt samtal till den som den uppringande vill tala med, gör först ett samtal till den lokala call-service noden. Med hjälp av en transparent klient så behöver användaren inte själv ringa call-service noden utan det sker helt automatik. Väl besvarat av call-service noden så kopplas samtalet till den destination användaren vill ringa till. Den som ringer behöver bara betala för ett lokalsamtal och tjänstens prenumerationsavgift. Detta kan kraftigt minska kostnaderna för användare som gör en hel del utlandssamtal. Idag är det även många företag som tillhandahåller en sådan funktion till sina anställda för att minska den totala kostnaden för deras samtal. Mobile Extension (MEX) är ett begrepp som ger mobila användare möjlighet att använda sin mobiltelefon på samma sätt som sina fasta kontorstelefon, till exempel genom att tillhandahålla tjänster såsom inställningen närvarostatus och koppling ett samtal. Användaren bör uppleva ett konsekvent gränssnitt, till exempel att det uppringande numret som visas alltid bör kunna användas för att ringa tillbaka till den som ringt. I detta examensarbete har en så kallad mobil anknytning tillämpning "OptiCaller", baserad på Symbian OS, utvecklats och utvärderats. Denna applikation är en del av DoD lösningen och ger funktionalitet på klientsidan. Den har även stöd för samtalskortfunktioner och MEX funktioner. Den är dessutom utformad på ett flexibelt sätt så att den kan arbeta med en rad olika PBX lösningar. Ett system för provisionering anpassat för OptiCaller kallat ”OptiCaller Provisioning System" har också framtagits och utvärderats. Det ger administratören en plattform för att administrera OptiCaller klienter i en större skala och hanterar såväl installation samt inställningar av OptiCaller klienter på mobiltelefoner.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 authorized the distribution of about $30 billion incentive funds to accelerate electronic health record (EHR) applications to improve the quality of care, safety, privacy, care coordination, and patients' involvement in healthcare. EHR use has the potential of saving $731 in costs for hospitals per patient admission; however, most hospitals are not applying EHR to reach the level at which cost savings are possible. The purpose of this single case study was to explore strategies that IT leaders in hospitals can use to apply EHR to achieve the cost saving benefits. The participants were IT leaders and EHR super users at a large hospital in Texas with successful experience in applying EHR. Information systems success model formed the conceptual framework for the study. I conducted face-to-face interviews and analyzed organizational documents. I used qualitative textual data analysis method to identify themes. Five themes emerged from this study, which are ensuring information quality, ensuring system quality, assuring service quality, promoting usability, and maximizing net benefits of the EHR system. The findings of this study included four strategies to apply EHR; these strategies include engaging training staff, documenting accurately and in a timely manner, protecting patient data, and enforcing organizational best practice policies to maximize reimbursement and cost savings. The findings of this study could contribute to positive social change for the communities because EHR successful application includes lower cost for hospitals that may lead to the provision of affordable care to more low-income patients.

US transportation agencies are dealing with shrinking budgets, limited work forces, and deteriorating infrastructure. In order to cope with funding uncertainty, state highway agencies are now looking into their own organizations and identifying programs, practices, and processes that have potential for cost saving. A quality assurance (QA) program is an integral part of highway construction and ensures a project’s contracted level of quality. The cost of quality (conforming and nonconforming) can constitute a sizable part of total construction cost. As the quality assurance programs evolved, various practices and processes were developed over time and later adopted by state highway agencies. These practices and processes include different QA standards and specifications, varying testing methods, central testing lab vs. on site testing, performance based vs. prescribed quality assurance practices, implementation of innovative quality assurance practices, etc. Therefore, there is an opportunity to assess different QA strategies and recommend those practices that are effective and cost efficient. A national survey was conducted by the authors, which provided a detailed mapping of various QA practices and processes used as part of QA programs and identified areas where agencies can focus on for cost savings. The survey found that QA sampling and testing plans, optimization of sampling plans, optimization of QA standards and specifications, and implementation of innovative test methods and processes are the main areas the agencies should focus to lean the current QA programs.

This bachelor’s thesis is written in collaboration with Skanska. The purpose of this thesis is to implement a time and cost analysis to compare the standard working week with five variations of work arrangements to investigate which is the most profitable. The thesis also examines which factors affects profitability and whether shift work is a good alternative in the construction industry. Depending on choice of working arrangement, it is possible to reduce both time and cost for a project.A calculation model has been created to be able to compare the different working arrangements. The purpose of the model is to clarify how the total price is affected by shorter production time and increased costs due to staff. The model uses a standard project as reference which is based on real figures from four completed projects within house building.The result of the calculation model is that a 53-hour week yields a cost saving of 3,8%. Two-shift yields a cost saving of 3,3%, a 60-hour week 1,9% and three-shift 1,1%. By working with shifts or longer workdays, projects can be completed faster and with, for example, three shifts it is possible to complete a project almost three times as fast. With two shifts it is possible to reduce construction time by half and with the a 60 and 53-hour week the construction time can be shortened by one third and one quarter. This confirms that a shorter construction time leads to a lower final cost despite increased costs due to staff. This since a shorter construction time leads to reduced time-dependent costs.As part of the thesis work a diagram has been created showing how much of the costs that should be time-dependent for the working time alternatives to be profitable. If time-dependent costs accounts for over 50% of the total cost of the project, all working time arrangements in the study are a better alternative than the normal 40-hour week.The conclusion is that a 53-hour week is the most profitable in terms of financial gain. A three shift yields the lowest cost saving, but is the most profitable when it comes to saving time. A shorter construction time provides an economic gain but is also valuable in other ways. It can provide both economic benefit and contribute to benefiting society, which is positive for both companies, customers and third parties. In addition, all work arrangements compared to a 40-hour week also generates a higher cost saving due to the time saving effect.Whether shift work is a good alternative in the construction industry is a difficult question with several different aspects to consider. This thesis only provides an answer from a time and cost perspective, but the thesis also discusses other aspects that are important in choosing work arrangement.