NEWS BRIEFS Without new policies, the prospects for stabilizing greenhouse gases at 1990 levels look gloomy, according to the Department of Energy's Annual Energy Outlook 1999. The DOE projects that carbon emissions from energy use will increase annually by an average of 1.3%, reaching 1975 million metric tons in 2020. While this year's outlook includes provisions from the Climate Change Action Plan to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions in 2000 at 1990 levels, its projections incorporate no new carbon reduction policies related to the Kyoto Protocol. The report is on the DOE's Web site: http://www.eia.doe.gov/ oiaf/aeo99/homepage html U.S. farm income would decrease by 24 to 48% if the Kyoto Protocol on global warming is implemented, contributing to the demise of hundreds of thousands of small family farms, concludes a report by The Heartland Institute, a nonprofit research organization. This decrease in profits would result from a necessary increase in fossil fuel taxes equivalent to between 25 and 68 cents per gallon, raising the cost of many farm inputs from fertilizers to fuel and motor oil. For a copy of Th, Kyoto Protocol and U.S. Agriculture call The Heartland Institute at (312) 377-4000. The state of many of the world's tropical forests is "bleak," and current strategies for managing these areas may need to be reconsidered, according to a report issued by TREES, a project of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy. The researchers identified 100 "hot spots" in places like southeast Asia, where deforestation affects the majority of large forests. Agricultural expansion is suspected to be the primary force driving deforestation, and the 311-
thors suggest that efforts should be refocused on preserving the last remaining large tracts For a copy of Identification of Deforestation Hot Spot Areas in the Humid Tronic, contact Frederic Achard at frederic archard@jrc it
American consumers would pay $5.60 to $15.14 per gallon of gasoline if the environmental and social impacts of producing it were reflected in the price at the pump, according to a report by the International Center for Technology Assessment (ICTA). All told, the United States spends between $558 billion and $1700 billion per year to prop up current gasoline production and consumption levels, ICTA finds. For a copy of the re~ port 77w? Real Price of Gasoline; An Analysis of the Hidden External Costs Consumers Pay TTouel Their Automobiles visit ICTAs Web site at http7/wwwicta org or call (202) 547-9359
Contradicting a long-held Exxon Corp. claim, a new study says that coal, not oil, is the source of background hydrocarbons in the sediments of Prince William Sound and the northern Gulf of Alaska. Because die hydrocarbons in coal are not bioavailable, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the U.S. Geological Survey argue that there are no confounding pollutants obscuring the effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on locfll wildlife. Previous studies sored by Exxon Corp. indicated that natural oil seeps were responsible for the presence of these contaminants {Environ Sri Technol.999 33(1) 34-42) The world's least developed nations could design more effective development strategies and trade policies if they were more active in the World Trade Organization, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's 1988 Least Developed Countries report. Compiied annually, this year's report analyzes how
the multilateral trading system affects the world's poorest countries, including an assessment of the trade-related aspects of environmental issues. For a copy of the report, visit the U.N. body's Web site at http://www.unctad.org. U.S. consumers would save more than $1 billion each year if manufacturers applied proven technologies to reducing the electricity that "leaks" out of small appliances, according to a report by researchers in the Environmental Technologies Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Small appliances such as televisions, VCRs, electric toothbrushes, home computers, and microwave ovens now account for one-fifth of the electricity used in U S homes according to the researchers; die appliances tend to leak electricity when in standby power mode The report can be downloaded at httpV/enduse lbl aov/projects/resmisc html Eleven industrial ecology research projects received $1.1 million from the National Science Foundation and Lucent Technologies Foundation in November. All die awards went to academic researchers, including projects at Rutgers, Carnegie-Mellon, North Carolina State, Michigan Technological and Tufts universities. This is the last year that Lucent Technologies Foundation will be involved with the awards, although NSF has committed to continue to support industrial ecology. Nominations for the 2000 National Technology Medal are being solicited by the American Chemical Society's Committee on Patents and Related Matters. The award, which is funded by the Department of Commerce, honors outstanding contributions to technology and may be presented to individuals, groups, companies, or institutions within the United States. For more information, see http://www.ta.doc.gov/ medal, or contact Debbie Fillinich of ASS ((202) 872-4476; e-mail: d fillinich@acs org) Nominations must be received by March 1, 1999.
FEB. 1, 1999 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 6 3 A
