Today global warming mitigation, natural resource conservation and energy saving are some of the significant concerns of different industries, such as cement and concrete industries. For that reason, a streamlined life cycle assessment (LCA) model of one ton of a Portland cement, CEM I produced in Cementa AB’s Degerhamn plant, has been developed by using the LCA software KCL-ECO. LCA is a tool that identifies in which stages of a product’s life cycle the most environmental burdens occur. The environmental analysis was limited to identify total energy consumption and total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per ton of Portland cement. Results show that the most significant energy consumption and CO2 emissions are related to clinker kiln, due to the process of calcination of limestone and fuel combustion in the kiln. Of total CO2 emissions, 52 % and 46 % result from the calcination process and fuel combustion respectively.  One of the applications of CEM I is in construction of concrete bridges. Therefore an LCA model of a concrete bridge located north of Stockholm was developed in KCL-ECO. Environmental indicators calculated are: total CO2 emissions and energy consumption through the entire life cycle of the bridge. CO2 uptake or carbonation of the concrete during the service life of the product and end of life treatment is one of the advantages of concrete products. During the carbonation process, some of the total CO2 released from calcination will be absorbed into the concrete. Results indicate that production of raw materials and transports during the life cycle of the concrete bridge, are main contributors to total CO2 emissions. Among raw materials, cement production has the highest CO2 emissions. Energy consumption is mainly related to concrete and concrete products production. CO2 uptake during the use phase of the bridge is small compared to total CO2 emissions from calcination. Furthermore, the results show that different waste handling practises result in different CO2 uptake behaviours. The total CO2 uptake from crushing and storing of the demolished concrete (scenario 1) and landfilling of the demolished concrete (scenario 2) is 10 % and 5 % of the total CO2 emissions from calcination respectively.  Since comparison of different construction materials from an environmental point of view is always desirable, the LCA tool was used to compare the total energy consumption and the CO2 emissions from a concrete bridge and a wooden bridge. The functional unit was defined as 1 square meter of bridge surface area, since the bridges were of different sizes and shapes. In this comparison the total emissions and energy consumption were much higher for the concrete bridge than for the wooden bridge.  In order to show how different assumptions could affect the results, a virtual concrete bridge with the same shape and size as the wooden bridge was designed and compared with the wooden bridge. The functional unit selected for this case was one bridge. In this case the virtual concrete bridge requires less energy, while the wooden bridge emits less CO2 to the atmosphere. For the wooden bridge, CO2 in growing forests was included, which could be debated. Overall, a comparison of the environmental performance of the wooden bridge and the concrete bridges was more complex than initially expected and great care is recommended in choosing material and application. With concrete, the design (and quantity of material used) seems to be a very sensitive parameter and may result in much larger energy used and CO2 emissions than a wooden bridge. On the other hand, the virtual bridge comparison showed that concrete advantages such as higher durability and lower maintenance may be theoretically combined with a comparable energy and climate performance as a wooden alternative.

Application of Photovoltaic PV panels for electricity production has rapidly increased in recent years in Sweden after launching a capital subsidy for PV panel installations in 2009. Kungsbacka municipality’s housing company equipped two groups of buildings in Fjärås with PV systems to generate electricity. The newly built residential buildings are connected to a DC-microgrid, whereas the existing buildings have been equipped with a single PV system. This project conducts a cradle to gate life cycle assessment (LCA) for this DC-microgrid energy system. The main purpose of this project is to determine which parts and processes of the DC-microgrid contribute to highest environmental impact throughout their lifespan from cradle to gate stages. Moreover, this study explores the energy payback time (EPBT) and the cumulative energy demand (CED) for the DC-microgrid. Additionally, this study performs two comparative LCA. First the DC-microgrid is being compared with PV system to determine which system has higher environment impacts, and secondly, the DC-microgrid is being compared with the average electricity mix in Sweden in terms of contribution to environmental impacts. The LCA follows the ISO 14040 framework and the baseline method is applied in order to assess 11 environmental impact categories. Two different functional units are adopted in this study. One is based on installed kilowatt peak (kWp) capacity by which environmental impacts of the PV system are compared with the DC-microgrid system. The other functional unit for this study is 1 kWh of delivered electricity to residential buildings produced by the DC-microgrid system. This functional unit is used exclusively for a stand-alone analysis of the DC-microgrid system in order to make it comparable with other microgrid systems or other systems with different energy sources, such as hydro, wind or nuclear. The results of the stand-alone LCA analysis of the DC-microgrid show that the battery has high contribution in human toxicity and terrestrial ecotoxicity whereas the energy hub system (Ehub) is the main contributor to eutrophication, abiotic depletion, fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity and marineaquatic ecotoxicity. The monocrystalline PV panel has the highest impact on global warming and abiotic depletion (fossil fuel). In addition, the EPBT for the DC-microgrid system is approximately 3.7 years. This means that one can get energy free of cost for an estimated time of 26.5 years if the lifetime of the system is assumed to be 30 years. The CED results show that monocrystalline PV production is an intense energy process which requires more non-renewable energy than all remaining parts of the DC-microgrid. The comparison of the DC-microgrid with the PV system reveals that the DC-microgrid has a higher environmental impact almost in all impact categories. This is mainly due to batteries and inverters which have a clear effect on the result. The CED analysis results illustrate that the multicrystalline PV panel production from the PV system is the most energy demanding process in both categories of renewable and non-renewable energy source. Moreover, the analysis illustrates that the DC-microgrid has still higher environmental impacts in all impact categories compared to the average electricity mix in Sweden. This is due to the electricity production in Sweden relies on hydropower and nuclear power with around 83 % of the total electricity production in the year 2017 which causes a lower environmental burden. Although the DC microgrid system shows a higher environmental impact compared to PV system, it is still a proper option to generate electricity since DC-microgrid system allows to achieve some indirect advantages such as energy saving due to an increase in own usage rate and self-sufficiency rate compared to the PV system. It should be noted that the end-of-life procedures becomes very important especially when crediting back for the recycling of materials. The collection and recycling of the PV panels at their end-of-life should be considered for future work as soon as reliable data are available. / Användningen av solpaneler har de senaste åren kommit att öka markant i Sverige. Ökningen beror på det statliga bidraget för installation av solceller som lanserades 2009. Kungsbacka kommun installerade solcellssystem i två olika typer av byggnader, ny och äldre befintlig byggnad. Den nya byggnaden anslöts till direkt mikronät (DC-mikcrogrid) och den äldre byggnaden utrustades med solcellssystem. Detta projekt utför en ’från vaggan till porten’ livscykelanalys (LCA) för energisystemet direkt mikronät. Syftet är i huvudsak att fastställa vilka delar och processer av det direkta mikronätet som bidrar till störst miljöpåverkan genom dess livslängd, det vill säga från vaggan till porten. Vidare undersöker studien återbetalningstiden (Energy PayBack Time, EPBT) och den ackumulerade energianvändningen (Cumulative Energy Demand, CED) för det direkta mikronätet. Studien utför två komparativa LCA varpå det direkta mikronätet först jämförs med solcellssystemet i syfte att fastställa vilket av systemen har större miljöpåverkan. Studien ämnar också jämföra det direkta mikronätet med den genomsnittliga energimixen i Sverige, också avseende miljöpåverkan. LCA metoden följer ISO 14040-ramverket. Studien är baserad på två funktionella enheter vilka består av installerad kilowatt peak (kWp) kapacitet vilken används för att jämföra solcellssystemet och det direkta mikromåttet. Den andra funktionella enheten är 1 kWh levererad elektricitet till bostäder som producerats genom det direkta mikronätet. Denna funktionella enhet används för en ’stand-alone’ analys av det direkta mikronätet i syfte att göra det jämförbart med andra mikrosystem eller system med olika energikällor så som vatten-, vind- och kärnkraft. Resultaten från ‘stand-alone’ livscykelanalysen av det direkta mikronätet visar på att batteriet har en större effekt på mänsklig toxicitet terrestrisk ekotoxicitet, varpå systemet för energihubb bidrar främst till övergödning, abiotisk utarmning, vattenlevande ekotoxicitet och havslevande ekotoxicitet. Monokristallin solpanel har större påverkan på global uppvärmning och övergödning (fossilabränslen). I övrigt är EPBT för det direkta mikronätet cirka 3,7 år vilket innebär att energin beräknas kostnadsfri i cirka 26,5 år, givet att det kan antas att systemets livslängd är 30 år. CED-resultat visar på att microkristallin solpanel är en intensiv energiprocess som kräver mer icke-förnybar energi jämfört med resterande delar av det direkta mikronätet. Jämförelsen mellan det direkta mikronätet och solcellssystemet visar på att det direkta mikronätet har större miljöpåverkan i de flesta kategorier. Detta beror i huvudsak på batterier och växelriktare som har tydlig effekt på resultatet. Av resultatet från CED-analysen framgår att produktion av multikristallin solpanel av solcellssystemet är det mest energikrävande processen i båda kategorierna för förnybar och icke-förnybar energikälla. Vidare framgår av analysen att det direkta mikronätet har en större miljöpåverkan i alla kategorier, jämfört med påverkan från genomsnittet av energimixen i Sverige. Detta beror på att elproduktionen i Sverige mestadels består av vatten- och kärnkraft som tillsammans 2017 utgjorde 83 procent av den totala energiproduktionen. Denna produktion orsakaren mindre miljöbelastning. Trots att det direkta mikronätet påvisar en högre miljöpåverkan än solcellssystemet, är det fortfarande ett alternativ till att generera elektricitet eftersom det direkta mikronätet bidrar till indirekta fördelar såsom energibesparing. Energibesparingen i det direkta mikronnätet sker således genom ökad användning av den egenproducerade energin samt självförsörjning. Det ska vidare tilläggas att ’end-of-life’ procedurerna blir viktiga i synnerhet när de återvunna materialet återanvänds. Vidare bör solpaneler återanvändas vid ’end-of-life’ vilket bör finnas i åtanke för vidarestudier och i samband med att data tillgängliggörs.

The transistor count for todays VLSI technology reaches 40 million transistors on one chip. In order to successfully design a system with such complexity, new computer-aided design (CAD) tools are needed. This dissertation shows approaches for coping with the problem of increasing complexity of VLSI design in three aspects: 1) capturing a higher level of abstraction, 2) using a new target architecture, and 3) using a new optimization technique. The advantage of working at a higher level of abstraction is that the number of objects that designers have to manipulate is reduced so that more complex systems can be delivered in shorter periods of time. The functions that can be used to capture higher levels of abstraction are surveyed and categorized into an is-a hierarchy. A partitioned-bus architecture that consists of complex functional units used to realize complex functions is proposed. The issues of synthesizing the complex functions to the partitioned-bus architecture are addressed. These issues are focused on the functional partitioning problem which is a known NP-complete problem. Algorithms used to optimize several metrics that affect the solution qualities of functional partitioning are presented. The metrics include communication buffer size, register file size, system delay, the number of buses, the number of links, and the number of multiplexers. These metrics are used to form a cost function, which is utilized by the Problem Space Genetic Partitioning algorithm (PSGP) to search for a good solution. Test cases with known optimal solutions are used to evaluate the solution qualities that PSGP can attain under run time and memory space constraints. The experimental results show that PSGP can reach an average about 87% of the optima for two-way partitioning. Another study also shows that PSGP outperforms the widely used Simulated Annealing algorithm. / Ph. D.

Agri-food production is necessary to sustain the growing global population, but it adversely impacts the environment in various ways, including climate change, eutrophication, acidification, land and water uses, and loss of biodiversity, etc. These environmental impacts can also negatively affect human health, which could in theory outweigh the health benefits of nutritious food. While better agricultural practices need to be developed and applied to minimize the environmental burdens associated with the production chains, consumers are expected to implement more sustainable lifestyles and eat more environment-friendly foods. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an analytical tool to evaluate the sustainability of a product by examining all the resources used and emissions generated during its life cycle. The first part of this work focused on the upstream production. An LCA of organic blueberry production was conducted to evaluate the trade-off between seasonal and local options and answer the question of whether imported fresh or domestic frozen blueberries are more sustainable. Fresh blueberries from Chile showed superior environmental performance within 2-week storage, due to lower electricity use associated with refrigeration and higher farming yield. Furthermore, length of storage and transportation distance were also found important; if farming yields are comparable, consumption of locally produced, fresh blueberries will be a better choice because of less energy use and shorter transportation distance. The second part of this work targeted at the downstream consumption and aimed to reduce the U.S. environmental footprint through changing adult eating habits. Supplemental functional units were applied in the LCA to incorporate the functions of food to provide nutrition and satiety. With controlled caloric intake, vegetarian diets were found overall more sustainable. However, large possible variations in the environmental impacts of the compared diets were observed due to wide range of nutritional quality of selected foods. Animal products, including meat and dairy especially, and discretionary foods were identified as hotspots in the American diet, that is, reducing the consumption of these foods or deliberately choosing more sustainable alternatives within the same food categories, like chicken and low-fat milk, can significantly improve the sustainability of current American dietary patterns. <br>

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to investigate how manufacturing organisations can decrease their environmental impact in the supply chain. To meet the purpose, two research questions were formulated:  1. How can a manufacturing organisation reduce its environmental impact caused by transportation?  2. How can a manufacturing organisation reduce its environmental impact caused by production?  Method – To provide the opportunity to reach a conclusion and to create a basic understanding of the research area, a literature review was conducted, which formed the basis of the theoretical framework. Through a case study at a manufacturing organisation, interviews and document analyses were used as sources for empirical data. In order to develop solutions and recommendations, collected data and theoretical framework were analysed and discussed.  Findings – The research findings indicate that there are several possible measures to implement to reduce an organisation's environmental impact in the supply chain. A decisive factor is creating a holistic and fundamental understanding of sustainability and enabling everyone involved to work according a common view and in the same direction. In addition, a requirement to pursue the same goal is that all stakeholders are involved where a prerequisite is a well-functioning internal communication.  Implications – The research did not contribute to any new theories, but through the research analysis, statements and theories from previous research were strengthened. The research suggests actions that can be used for organisations to reduce their environmental impact, but also to increase the understanding of why actions should be implemented. Society has an important responsibility for motivating and provide conditions for manufacturing organisations to reduce their footprint. This research is considered to lead to an improved environment in the form of lower emission levels where both organisations and the entire community take responsibility for the planet.  Limitations – The case study is designed as a single-case study which, from a validity perspective, is not considered as advantageous as a multiple case study because the results are difficult to generalize. In order to strengthen the study's reliability, several functional units and / or organisations could have been included in the study.

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Afin d’accompagner les acteurs des filières viticoles, notamment d’AOC, dans la nécessaire amélioration de l’éco-efficience de leurs produits, nous avons voulu identifier dans quelles conditions l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie est une méthode appropriée à l'évaluation environnementale des itinéraires techniques viticoles (ITKv) de production de raisins de qualité, à l’échelle parcellaire, afin de pouvoir choisir les plus performants. Pour établir et tester un cadre méthodologique de l’ACV, adapté à cet objectif, des ITKv réels et variés visant un même objectif qualitatif sont nécessaires. Nous proposons ici une chaîne de traitement d’enquête originale, Typ-iti, qui permet le choix de cas réels représentant chaque groupe. Cinq groupes ont ainsi été identifiés parmi les ITKv de production de raisins de Chenin blanc pour vins blancs secs d’AOC en Moyenne Vallée de la Loire, dont trois en viticulture conventionnelle et deux en viticulture biologique. Cinq cas réels ont été choisis pour les représenter. L’ACV est ici déclinée pour la viticulture sur la base de ces cinq cas, par l’établissement d’un cadre méthodologique qui comprend : i) la définition de limites du système incluant les phases non productives et productives, ii) le choix des modèles disponibles les plus pertinents, pour le calcul des émissions directes de polluants à la vigne, iii) l’adaptation fine du modèle d’émissions de pesticides organiques Pest LCI 2.0 aux spécificités viticoles, iv) la proposition et le test d’unités fonctionnelles basées sur un indicateur de qualité du raisin original permettant la prise en compte de la qualité dans les ACV de raisins destinés à la production de vins de qualité. L’ACV a révélé, à l’échelle parcellaire, i) des éco-efficiences contrastées pour les cinq ITKv contrastés, ii) les pratiques responsables de ces contrastes, iii) des solutions d’amélioration et leurs effets quantifiés sur les performances environnementales. La généricité des résultats de ces cas aux groupes qu’ils représentent varie selon l’homogénéité des groupes et avec les catégories d’impacts selon qu’elles sont, ou non, conditionnées par le milieu. L’effet important du millésime sur les résultats, mis en évidence ici sur un cas, mérite d’être pris en compte dans toute ACV viticole. De nombreuses perspectives d’améliorations méthodologiques sont discutées ici pour accroître la pertinence et la complétude des résultats ainsi que la généricité de la méthode et pour son application auprès d’acteurs du développement des filières viticoles. / In order to contribute to the effort of eco-efficiency improvement of the wine sctor, especially in the Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) contaxt, we worked to identify in which conditions Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is an appropriate method for environmental assessment, at plot scale, of quality vineyard Technical Management Routes (TMRs), to permit the choice of the most eco-efficient technical operations and TMRs.A methodological framework for LCA suited to this objective was designed and tested on five real and contrasted TMRs, oriented towards a same qualitative objective. These cases were chosen thanks to an original statistical analysis chain, Typ-iti, on the basis of a survey, among the TMRs producing Chenin blanc grapes for PDO dry white wines in the Middle Lore Valley. Five groups were identified and characterized, threee in conventional viticulture, and two in organic viticulture.The methodological framework that was established includes i) the studied system definition including productive and non-productive phases, ii) the choice of the most suitable and available models for calculation of pollutant direct emissions in the vineyard, iii) the customization of the organic pesticide emision calculation model, Pest LCI 2.0, to viticulture specific needs iv) the inclusion of grape quality in the LCA by two functional units including an original grape quality index.LCA proves to be a method complex but powerful, usable at parcel scale for grape production TMRs choice. It revealed i) contrasted eco-efficiencies for the 5 contrasted TMRs, ii) the viticultural practices responsible for these contrasts, iii) solutions for eco-efficiency improvement and quantification of their eco-efficiency effects.The important effect of the production year on the results, highlighted here on one case, must be taken into account in any viticulture LCA. Numerous perspectives of methodological improvement are discussed here in order to increase relevance and completeness of the results as well as genericity of the method and its accessibility for viticulture development stakeholders.

This diploma thesis deals with the valuation of five family houses and the degree of influence of the construction type on the usual price of the family house. Valuation of houses, including the price of land in a single functional unit is made by using cost and comparison approach, according to the current pricing regulations and market valuation method (method of direct comparison). The final part of the diploma thesis compares the established prices of family houses and the prices of usual individual houses.

The diploma thesis deals with the influence of the type of construction on the usual price of a family house, based on the valuation of five family houses, including the price of the plots in the single functional unit. The following methods are used: cost and comparative method according to valid valuation and market valuation method (direct comparison method). The final part of the diploma thesis compares the established prices of family houses and the prices of usual individual houses.

The aim of the diploma thesis is to assess to what extent does an reconstruction of houses affect the usual price. The theoretical part is focused on the basic therms and description of used methods in valuing of family hauses and the practical part deals with creating of database from bid prices of comparable objects and then by calculation the direct comparison of the market price of family houses. Further tasks are to find the cost price in accordance with the valid valuation regulation and also to find the comparative price in accordance with current pricing regulation. In the conclusion of the diploma thesis there is a comparison of prices according to the used valuation method.