I dagsläget överproduceras och överkonsumeras mat, samtidigt slängs 30% av all mat som produceras i världen. Matproduktionen står för en stor del av världens miljöbelastning; främst genom animaliska produkter såsom kött och mejeriprodukter, och därför har ämnet blivit mycket omtalat. I samband med denna debatt har mjölksubstitut introducerats på marknaden. Målet med arbetet var att undersöka hur matbutiker i Stockholm arbetar med svinn och försäljning av mjölk och mjölksubstitut. En jämförelse gjordes mellan Arla Mellanmjölk, Alpro Soya och Alpro Mandeldryck. Datainsamlingsmetoden gjordes dels i kvantitativt format där siffror över försäljning och svinn samlades in, men även i kvalitativt format, i form av intervjuer med sex utvalda matbutiker. Det visade sig att svinnet för Arla Mellanmjölk, Alpro Soya och Alpro Mandeldryck var minimalt med anledning att det alltid finns efterfrågan på dessa produkter och att matbutikerna aktivt arbetar för att hålla svinnet lågt. Detta görs genom att ha ett välkalibrerat automatiskt beställningssystem som tar hand om majoriteten av butikens beställningar in, ha bra kylar i butiken, samt att regelbundet inventera butiken. De produkter som undersöktes ansågs inte behöva exponeras på något speciellt vis då de är basvaror som i princip säljer sig själva. Det är snarare ett problem att mjölksubstituten tar slut från centrallagret emellanåt när efterfrågan blir för stor. Matbutikernas primära mål är att driva ett lönsamt företag och ansträngningarna som görs sker på grund av ekonomiska fördelar. Likväl, även om minskat svinn görs med anledning att inte gå i förlust ekonomiskt blir utfallet detsamma och till fördel för miljön. Konsumenterna verkar tillsynes vara de som har mest makt i att förändra hur matbutikernas verksamhet bedrivs. Genom att välja mjölksubstitut framför mjölk kommer följaktligen miljöbelastningen från mjölkproduktionen att minska. / The food production and consumption today are excessive, while 30% of all produced food in the world goes to waste. Food production has a significant effect on the environment; primarily through animalistic products such as meat and dairy food, it is, therefore, a much-disputed subject. Milk alternatives have, as a reaction to this, been introduced on the market. This project aimed to examine how grocery stores in Stockholm handle food waste and sales of milk and milk alternatives. A comparison was made between Arla semi-skimmed milk, Alpro Soya and Alpro Almond. The data collection methods were both quantitively, as numbers of sales and waste were collected, but also qualitative, with interviews with six selected grocery stores. The food waste for Arla semi-skimmed milk, Alpro Soya and Alpro Almond was minimal as a result of constant demand for these products, and also the grocery stores active work to prevent food waste. This is accomplished through a well calibrated automatic ordering system that controls the majority of the store's orders. Additionally, new refrigerators and continuous inventory are also methods used to minimize the food waste. The grocery stores felt no reason to expose the selected products in any particular way since they are already well-known and gets sold without any effort. It is rather an issue that the demand for the milk substitutes is too high and the central warehouse has no supply. The grocery stores' primary goal is to conduct a profitable business, and when the stores put in an effort, the objective is the economic benefits. Nonetheless, even though the reduced food waste is a product of the grocery stores effort to minimize unnecessary economic losses, the outcome will be the same; a benefit for the environment. The consumers seem to have the most influence on how grocery stores conduct their businesses. By choosing a milk substitute over regular milk, the environmental impact from the production of milk will be reduced.

The doctoral research revolves around a comparative study of timber modern methods of construction for low-rise, residential buildings in Scotland. The building techniques studied involve both timber-frame panel construction (open-panel and closed-panel systems and structural insulated panels) and massive-timber construction (cross-laminated and nail-laminated timber panels). A non-timber technique is also included in the study: more traditional, load-bearing masonry (blockwork). These different building techniques have been analysed from two complementary aspects: environmental impacts and thermal performance. The environmental study is based on the life-cycle assessment methodology and embraces various aspects: environmental impacts (e.g., climate change, acidification, eutrophication, ozone depletion, etc.), consumption of energy (renewable and non-renewable resources) and production of waste (from non-hazardous to radioactive). The assessment takes a cradle-to-gate approach and, in its structure and method, is informed by the current recommendations of the international standards in the field (i.e., ISO 14040 series). Various environmental trade-offs between construction methods have been identified. In terms of global-warming potential (excluding biogenic carbon sequestration), results suggest that timber-frame buildings show a better performance than masonry buildings; this is particularly true for the open-panel system, which emits about 10% less carbon than the masonry counterpart. Massive-timber buildings tend to cause more carbon emissions than masonry ones. In terms of consumption of non-renewable primary energy, timber buildings do not generally show significant advantages with respect to blockwork-based masonry. In particular, structural-insulated panel systems tend to show very high energy requirements. Timber-based buildings show a tendency to cause increased acidification, eutrophication and creation of low ozone than their masonry counterpart. The level of offsite fabrication that is employed for the erection of the buildings plays an important role in the magnitude of most environmental impacts, which show an average decrease between 5% and 10% when some of the operations are shifted from the construction site to the factory. v The thermal study investigates the performance of the building envelope, and, in particular, of external walls, by means of tests whereby the thermal behaviour of a sample of walls (of full-size section) has been observed and measured over time. On the outside, the walls were exposed to real, natural weather variations throughout the summer. The study especially focuses on the time-dependent response of three different walling systems (which results from their individual cross-sectional arrangements of building components and the associated combination of heat-storage capacity and thermal resistance): a timber-framed wall, a cross-laminated-timber wall and a masonry wall. Thus, the main goal of the study was to characterise the thermal-inertia parameters of these walls. This type of thermal behaviour is related to the repercussions of global climate change at UK level, especially in terms of increase in solar irradiance and temperature, which requires an adaptation of the building-envelope such that it can perform well both during wintertime and summertime, by providing maximum indoor comfort with minimum economic and environmental costs from the construction and operation of buildings. The timber-framed wall possesses the greatest capacity to slow down the propagation of temperature waves from the outer surface to the inner surface (time lag), whereas the masonry wall performs best with respect to reducing the amplitude of temperature oscillation on the inner surface (decrement factor). The cross-laminated-timber wall exhibits intermediate values of both time lag and decrement factor, relative to the other two walls. Both the thermal and life-cycle assessment of the construction alternatives aim at assisting the design and decision-making process in the residential field and at suggesting areas that need to be addressed and improved, towards a coherent evolution of the building techniques included in this study and a step forward in the realisation of sustainable, low-rise dwellings.

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South Africa is a water-scarce country and receives less rainfall than the average rainfall of the World. As population increases, and development calls for increased allocation of ground water and surface water for the domestic, agriculture and industrial sectors, the pressure on water resources intensifies. This is exacerbated by the wastages that occur in schools and homes. Conservation of water by all consumers is essential. The study attempts to identify practices that lead to wastage of water and indicate strategies for the reduction of water wastage and conservation strategy. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Environmental Education)

South Africa is a water-scarce country and receives less rainfall than the average rainfall of the World. As population increases, and development calls for increased allocation of ground water and surface water for the domestic, agriculture and industrial sectors, the pressure on water resources intensifies. This is exacerbated by the wastages that occur in schools and homes. Conservation of water by all consumers is essential. The study attempts to identify practices that lead to wastage of water and indicate strategies for the reduction of water wastage and conservation strategy. / Educational Studies / M.Ed. (Environmental Education)