Word: error
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...them. In the second paper, another team of researchers led by Tim Searchinger of Princeton University uncovered a potentially damaging flaw in the way carbon emissions from bioenergy are calculated under the Kyoto Protocol and in the carbon cap-and-trade bill currently being debated in Congress. If that error in calculation goes unfixed, a future increase in biofuel use could end up backfiring and derailing efforts to control global warming, according to the paper. "Biofuels can be an important part of the portfolio of climate-change activities," says Steve Hamburg, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund...
...that's rarely how it works in most biofuel production today. Instead, a long-standing forest might be clear cut in Indonesia and replaced with a plantation of palms to make biodiesel. That's where the accounting error crops up: we should assess the carbon lost in deforestation when we measure the greenness of biofuels, but that's not how it works under Kyoto, which simply exempts all CO2 emissions that come from using biofuels. CO2 emissions resulting from deforestation or other changes in the way we use land are not evaluated at all. The result is a huge...
Given how limited the impact of the Kyoto Protocol has been, the effects of that error have been modest so far. But if the U.S. adopts a cap-and-trade system with the same mistake, or if the world agrees to a truly global successor to Kyoto, the blowback could be enormous. As long as biofuels are incorrectly treated as 100% carbon neutral, they'll represent an economical way for companies to offset their greenhouse-gas emissions and comply with a tightening carbon cap. One study estimates that if the world were to meet a 50% "cut" in global greenhouse...
...that may well be a boon. If cap-and-trade were passed with the existing biofuel loophole, it could set up a system that would incentivize the expansion of bioenergy at the expense of the environment and carbon cutting. Certainly the error could be fixed later, after the bill is passed - but by that time the financial interests in favor of biofuels would be even stronger, and would surely resist changes. "If this isn't fixed, you could give companies a very powerful financial incentive to go clear land," says Searchinger, who has briefed members of Congress on his research...
...Crimson may be in the best position of the triumvirate. It has already topped Brown and hosts three of its last four Ivy games. Given the tight competition, however, Harvard has left itself with little room for error with its draw against the Big Red. The next two weeks against Princeton and Dartmouth may well wrap up the title for the Crimson if they obtain the maximum six points...