List of questions

What solutions are available in Sweden relating to soil treatment suitable for large scale projects?

In our urban development projects in China we see vast areas with heavily contaminated soil. Now we see a growing interest in finding new solutions for treating the soil (rather than just dumping the top soil somewhere else). What solutions from Sweden would be applicable for us to use for our Chinese projects?

Landfills is very common in China, what new solutions can Sweden offer China?

Many of our clients in China have areas which today are landfills and the local governments are often asking us what solutions we can offer them to turn the garbage filled areas into energy, and the land into something more useful and environmental friendly. What new solutions does KTH deem as most effective to turn a landfill into energy?

Is it possible to implement a local ecocycle for food waste?

Short description of background:
Building new city districts opens up new possibilities for recycling and waste management. We would like to understand the possibility of using food waste to support the district with electricity, heat, fuel and fertilization. See also attached document.

Är trä ett hållbarhetsmässigt bättre byggnadsmaterial än betong avseende stomme, bjälklag etc. in en byggnad? Ställt i relation till förväntad livslängd.

Hur ser den förväntade tekniska och ekonomiska utvecklingen av solceller ut de närmsta 5-10 åren?

Hur beräkna lönsamhet vid en given energisparåtgärd i förhållande till när framtida underhållsinsatser i klimatskalet vidtas och vice versa?

Wood is in many ways a more sustainable construction material than for instance alumina or steel, but one issue is the fire resistance. How can we make wood construction for buildings (laminated beams, particle boards, cross laminate timber etc.) more fire resistant?

Wood constructions for buildings are typically assembled with adhesives based on nonrenewable raw materials from the petro industry (phenol, urea, formaldehyde, melamine, vinyl acetate etc.) Would it be possible to make use of renewable raw materials from the forest industry in the production of wood adhesives?

Wood constructions for buildings are typically assembled with adhesives based on nonrenewable raw materials from the petro industry (phenol, urea, formaldehyde, melamine, vinyl acetate etc.) Would it be possible to totally avoid the adhesive by using enzymatic reactions that form covalent bonds between the wood pieces instead of glue joints?

Wood welding has for more than a decade been suggested as a more sustainable way to assembly wood constructions compared to traditional adhesives, but still many issues remain. The most important is the water resistance, which is very poor in a weld joint. How could this be overcome?

Could there be new ways with today's technology to find out the opinion of the citizens and give them more influence?

I Vision 2030 – om ett Stockholm i världsklass som staden har i uppdrag att arbeta mot och som ska styra prioriteringarna och prägla utvecklingsarbetet anges bl.a. att det ska bo en miljon människor i Stockholms stad år 2024. Förutom ett 30-tal större stadsutvecklingsprojekt så innebär visionen även ett stort antal förtätningsprojekt i befintliga bostadsområden vilket kommer att ta en hel del park- och naturmark i anspråk. Genomförs exploateringarna omsorgsfullt så kan de tillföra positiva kvaliteter till stadsbilden och människors trivsel men de kan också lika gärna leda till motsatsen i synnerhet om byggherrar och arkitekter ges allt för stor frihet.
I Stockholms kommunalkalender står det att en av stadsdelsnämndernas uppgifter är att stärka den lokala demokratin och delaktigheten i respektive stadsområde. Förståelse och förtroende för stadsbyggnadsprocessen är nödvändig för att skapa acceptans för en växande stad inte minst i ett område som Bromma som i så hög grad är präglat av trädgårdsstadens ideal. Med den omvälvande digitala utveckling som nu sker, med dess ökade kommunikationsformer så skulle det kunna vara möjligt att öka medborgardeltagandet och demokratin för att få till stånd en mer hållbar utveckling.

What are your view on the opportunities to organize civic polls electronically regarding the urban environment? According to you, which information should citizens be able to express their opinion about?

I Vision 2030 – om ett Stockholm i världsklass som staden har i uppdrag att arbeta mot och som ska styra prioriteringarna och prägla utvecklingsarbetet anges bl.a. att det ska bo en miljon människor i Stockholms stad år 2024. Förutom ett 30-tal större stadsutvecklingsprojekt så innebär visionen även ett stort antal förtätningsprojekt i befintliga bostadsområden vilket kommer att ta en hel del park- och naturmark i anspråk. Genomförs exploateringarna omsorgsfullt så kan de tillföra positiva kvaliteter till stadsbilden och människors trivsel men de kan också lika gärna leda till motsatsen i synnerhet om byggherrar och arkitekter ges allt för stor frihet.
I Stockholms kommunalkalender står det att en av stadsdelsnämndernas uppgifter är att stärka den lokala demokratin och delaktigheten i respektive stadsområde. Förståelse och förtroende för stadsbyggnadsprocessen är nödvändig för att skapa acceptans för en växande stad inte minst i ett område som Bromma som i så hög grad är präglat av trädgårdsstadens ideal. Med den omvälvande digitala utveckling som nu sker, med dess ökade kommunikationsformer så skulle det kunna vara möjligt att öka medborgardeltagandet och demokratin för att få till stånd en mer hållbar utveckling.

How do we handle household waste, including food waste and packaging in a sustainable manner?

Stockholm is about to start collecting food waste in a larger scale. How is this done in a sustainable way keeping in mind that there are often problems regarding the working environment for the garbage collectors.

Theoretically speaking - A household consists of 4 people living in an average house, using average amount of heat. How many pigs would these people need in order to produce biogas to cover their needs for heating, cooking and perhaps a generator?

Inom vår verksamhet söker vi efter konkreta applicerbara teoretiska modeller för överföring till producerbara konsumentprodukter eller tjänster. Inom Transition Design talar vi om levande maskiner, organiska och icke organiska tekniska komponenter som samspelar för brukarens behov att producera energi (kraft, el, värme) , och föda.
Inom studien för avfallshantering kan man bryta ner avfallets fraktioner genom olika led. En gris är en idealisk markförädlare samt avfallshanterare som tål det svenska klimatet med relativt låga driftskostnader. Genom att låta avfallet från en familj gå via grisen som katalysator för biogas, intresserar vi oss för mängden organisk massa som grisen kan/behöver omvandla för produktion av biogas. Hur många kilo organisk (av grisen ätbar organisk materia samt rensvatten) materia behöver grisen som minst per dag/ år för att producera energibehovet för en familj?

Buckminster Fuller had a vision of an intercontinental energy grid for electrifying the world. Along these lines developed an idea of a global smart grid. How far away are we from creating a global electric grid, and can we in the future exchange solar energy from dark to sunny sides of the world?

Frågan handlar om Smarta nät. Greenelizer arbetar med smarta nät i NDS och har sett på svårigheterna och kostnaderna att implementera smarta städer. Därför ställer vi oss frågan om det på ett uppskalat plan är effektivt att i större utsträckning skapa globala nät med förnyelsebara energikällor. Dvs kan man låna energi från andra breddgrader på ett effektivt sätt?

With Internet of Things (IOT) the possibility to optimize different systems increases, among those facility management and intelligent transport systems. What impact will that development have on larger systems like green design and distribution?

Kista Science City AB plan to create a consortium for an open European arena, a modern and forward-looking open testbed for the super-connected city, introducing fully operational pilots, verifications and demonstrations for as real conditions as possible of new services and service concepts for the next generation networked systems. We envision, in Kista Science City and in a regional cooperation in the Greater Stockholm, a long-term project aimed to define the ICT market, the products and services in the 2020´s. The mission for this consortium is to offer insight and foresight into the opportunities given by ICT to the city of the future.

The core strength area of the research community of Kista Science City in the broader sense is “mobile”. If you dig into the word mobile in a “tech wise” way, you will not only find radio technology excellence, but every part of the wireless solutions ecosystem represented, this in and around companies as Ericsson and Intel on site, as well as in the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm University and Swedish ICT. Research and innovation in technologies such as semiconductors (nano tech), photonics, Internet, cloud technologies, big data, open data, Internet of Things, etc, works hand in hand to create mobile solutions end to end in ICT. For the first three to five years the partners has chosen to give extra highlight to the opportunities presented in the interdisciplinary crossroad of Internet of Things – Cloud-Based Services – Open Data.

The Kista Science City stakeholders has decided to further develop the existing Triple Helix collaboration into a virtual venue as a gathering place for ICT experts to meet with urban, traffic and property developers and experts in health care and energy, in sanitation, water and wastewater management, etc. The goal is, to already in a three year time be able to see a strengthened collaboration and in a fifteen year horizon be able to observe Stockholm taking an even more prominent place in international benchmarks on green, clean, mobile, healthy and livable.

Is it possible to recycle heat from exhaust air in restaurant ventilation systems, despite grease in the air? What is the most effective way to do this? And where should the recycled heat be used, in the restaurant, in surrounding buildings, in a district heating system or for other purposes?

Urbanism – advantage or drawback?

It is often said that the increasing urbanization is beneficial for the environment and the climate change. Is this true and are there scientific evidence proving this

How much energy does the waste from an average Swedish household contain?

It would be interesting to explore the possibilities of re-using the energy coming into a household in terms of packaging, food, newspapers, products, warm water etc. that later on ends up as waste of various kind.

Waste is typically transported for recycling or energy recovery, and transport requires additional energy. We would therefore like to understand if e.g. a single-family housing could generate and use energy from their own waste locally, and thereby reduce carbon impact from transport.
What other advantages or disadvantages would there be from a systems perspective?

No PicNic is a design company with a deep interest in sustainability and also a partner to Green Leap at KTH.

Is there today an existing renewable component/additive (to plastic) that can replace some of the oil based plastic with the goal to use less oil based plastic but still not loose in plastic quality or properties? Is it also possible to use the same tools/ machinery for production?

OSM is a global company working with the major players in the consumer electronics industry and we design and manufacture accessories for smart phones, tablets, notebooks, cameras, headphones etc. We make both soft goods (in-house in our factory in China) and molded products where we work with external Chinese suppliers.
We strive to design with sustainability in mind and also to constantly learn about sustainable materials and production methods/ techniques.
For a lot of information we rely on our Chinese suppliers’ knowledge but it is hard to know if they are aware of the latest techniques/ materials. Regarding plastics there are constantly new additives coming with different properties and it is really hard to know how and if they can be used for our products and if we have to change the way we make them in order to use these materials.
For fabrics there are many different “eco” materials out there; organic, recycled etc. and it is really hard to understand the LCA and the actual impact of choosing a certain material over another.

When fabrics are made out of recyclable PET bottles the raw material is taken out of a system of recycling that works very well. Instead of making new PET bottles that can be recycled again and again fabric is made and used in sewn goods. Is it worth taking PET material from a well working recycling system? Isn’t the risk big that the PET material will not be recycled again when used in fabrics?

OSM is a global company working with the major players in the consumer electronics industry and we design and manufacture accessories for smart phones, tablets, notebooks, cameras, headphones etc. We make both soft goods (in-house in our factory in China) and molded products where we work with external Chinese suppliers.
We strive to design with sustainability in mind and also to constantly learn about sustainable materials and production methods/ techniques.
For a lot of information we rely on our Chinese suppliers’ knowledge but it is hard to know if they are aware of the latest techniques/ materials. Regarding plastics there are constantly new additives coming with different properties and it is really hard to know how and if they can be used for our products and if we have to change the way we make them in order to use these materials.
For fabrics there are many different “eco” materials out there; organic, recycled etc. and it is really hard to understand the LCA and the actual impact of choosing a certain material over another.

How can a global brand make use of local handicraft as their manufacturing method?

See attached document: People People Glocal Design Project

How can social networks help connect supply and demand within local communities instead of the global industrial operations of today?

See attached document: People People Glocal Design Project

How can we effectively guide new city developments from around the world in their choice of urban infrasystems?

New cities are being built and expanded at an unprecedented pace around the world, especially in the BRIC countries and the developing world. Stockholm and Sweden have been receiving increasing numbers of delegations and technical visits in the past ten years with the interest of guidance in sustainable city development. There are estimates of some 100 000 technical visitors per year to Sweden and 50 000 to Stockholm.
The response from swedish officials have had the main focus of selling Swedish environmental technology. This has had varying results, but feedback from many visitors have often included that they lacked an overview and guidance into the different systems that are available for the various infrasystems of a city, such as energy, waste, water, transport etc. Many visitors have stated the wish for a benchmark of leading solutions globally.

Sweden and Stockholm still have leading brands globally in sustainable urban development. We believe this asset can be utilized in a much more creative way, by engaging city developers around the world in dialogues and learning. Can research play a role in creating a hotspot for learning, benchmarking and guidance in the design of sustainable cities?

How large is the area of Urban land use today, and how large will it be in 20 years time?

We produce land use statistics and are interested to understand what research have to say about the driving forces that lies behind the changes.

Urban sprawl is described as a problem for sustainable cities. Still, this kind of cities continue to be built. Why is this hard to change and how could realistic alternatives be formulated?

Can traffic problems really be solved by building new roads? What alternatives can be seen and are there examples that can show what is effective?

Large investments form the base for the resulting emission pattern from energy systems and from traffic systems. The statistics should preferably have classifications that are able to distinguish interesting trends. Therefore research about coming trends are of interest for us.

Learning from the mistakes that have been made in designing urban areas until now in Europe, North and South America and Asia, what would be the recommendation when Africa is now in the process of going through the same structural change?

Are there any tools for evaluation of capacity for energy saving by integration of the infrastructure and technology systems in an old industrial area?

The Stockholm Business Region Development participates in a city district revitalisation project in Högdalen industrial area. The district has 35 private real estate owners, 100 light industry companies and 1 large CHP plant. We want to know how to proceed with the general evaluation of the current state,capacity for energy cuts, modelling tools etc. We also want to include some researchers to the team.

How much charging possibilities for electric cars (and what type?) and where should they be placed in Stockholm in order to make Stockholm an attractive electric car city?

Elbilar och laddhybrider kommer att bli en vanligare syn i Stockholm. Inom en inte alltför avlägsen framtid måste det finnas laddmöjligheter på parkeringsplatser i Stockholm. Var och hur ska dessa placeras? Vad behövs för att Stockholm ska nå sin vision om att vara en attraktiv elbilsstad?

What effective incentives are available to increase the number of "green cars" and to decrease the environmental impact from the transport sector?

Hur får vi fler miljöbilar? Vilka incitament fungerar och varför? Vad kan vi göra nu?

What would a sustainable transport "mix" be in Stockholm for personal and freight transport and how do we make people in Stockholm to make the right and most environmentally friendly choice for their individual need?

How can automated packaging and newspaper collection with good availability and good working environment that meets stringent quality and environmental standards be developed for the city of Stockholm?

Recycling stations in town. Littering, not emptied often enough / do not know when they are full, ugly, there is no place in the street, etc.

How to involve the inhabitants in creating a sustainable city?

The experience is that to achive success in creating a sustainable city, you have to involve the inhabitants. Much more than voting every fourth year. Only technical solutions will not function without human beeings who are engaged in the topic.

How big is the risk for toxic effects when using cement or concrete products in which different types of incineration ashes have been added as binder or filler?

Background information: At Trafikverket we are now facing the fact that entrepreneurs want to use concrete in which different types of ashes have been mixed in. There are several arguments for using ashes in concrete production - it saves energy, avoids greenhouse gas emissions and it may also in some cases improve the function. However, usually ashes contain different types of trace metals that could potentially pose an environmental threat. In order to approve the use or disapprove it, we need to know if there is any pollution risk associated with the material. We need to know more about the magnitude and potential for ash-mixed concrete in Sweden (suitable ashes and expected development regarding concrete production), the potential harmful substances to be expected, if there is any significant risk associated to the use. A further question would be if the products with ashes mixed in can fulfill the criterias developed for assessment of construction products in BASTA.

How much does the Swedish use of hazardous substances in chemical products and goods contribute to the EBD (environmental burden of diseases)? Is there any calculations done regarding the contribution from certain substances, chemical products, group of products, goods or materials? Is there EBD results available regarding the contribution from certain sectors in the society (such as the building sector or the transport sector)?

The background is that Trafikverket is currently developing indicators for following up environmental objectives. Trafikverket uses large amount of material and different types of products for building purposes and some of those include substances that are potentially harmful for humans or for the environment. There is currently an ongoing discussion of how to monitor the potential impact on human health from these substances (an issue that concerns both the yearly use, but also what is already built into the constructions and the amounts that can be expected to be released into nature). The indicator for hazardous substances needs to be aggregated together with health impact from noise and from air emissions into one measure –impact on human health. One idea is to relate all these burdens to environmental burden of disease (EBD). However, we do not know if it is possible for hazardous substances. It may also be other ways of aggregating those aspects that we are not yet aware of. Further, we do not know how important the hazardous substances are in relation to noise and air emissions. Are the hazardous substances important at all in this sence? And if they are, can certain substances, products, product groups, goods or materials be identified as extra important? If we know what is contributing most, a possibility could be to focus the monitoring on this. Some other related questions are if DALY is at all a suitable unit for presenting the implication from using hazardous substances on human health, or if it is connected to too high uncertainties. It would also be interesting to know if there is any relation between EDB and the environmental impact categories used in LCA for aggregating those aspects that have potential ecotoxic or human toxic impact.

What does a ONE planet lifestyle look like for Europeans?

Veryday is one of the world’s top-ranking design and innovation consultancies. Everything we do is the result of deep insights into what people really need, feel and desire.

The questions posed are universal but also essential for understanding the role design can play in forming a sustainable future.

What habits and patterns do we need to change to really make a difference for the planet?

As humans are followers can we change the ideal and create mass effect?

Is it possible for us humans to care less about our own well-being and more about the well-being of all?

Hur skulle en renovering av ett verkligt flerbostadshus från 1970-talet kunna göras med en mer industrialiserad process än idag och med resultatet god design och ett hållbart (ekonomiskt, soialt och miljömässigt) hus som kan certifieras med GULD i Miljöbyggnad?

Se SGBC:s hemsida om miljöbyggnad och bifogad fil.
http://www.sgbc.se/certifieringssystem/miljoebyggnad

How much vertical farming/urban agriculture can be squeezed in to a modern city core? How to design a modern city core when applying vertical farming/urban agriculture? How to combine an efficient hydroponic system, vertical farming and RAS systems close to city centers?

How much bio gas can be produced from a residential block if food residues from garbage disposers are used and how much could be done without residues if urine is separated? Fecal fraction only.

How much energy can be saved if tap water temperatures can be lowered to 40 C? Look at the whole system aspect including distribution loss, heat pump COP´s, power output from CHP/MCHP, solar panels etc. Start looking at modern residential blocks. Will a low tap water temperature open for introduction of other renewable heat sources?

How does the parking norm of Swedish municipalities affect liveability, housing construction and sustainable transport?

Are car-free neighbourhoods desirable? Which opportunities and which problems do you see with the concept?

What practical issues need to be resolved to build a carfree district in Stockholm?