Climate Live: Drought affecting water supplies to US hydro and nuclear plants

By Ed King

– The day’s top climate change stories as chosen by RTCC
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– Updated from 0900-1700 BST (GMT+1)

Latest news: Monday 10 September

0900 BST

California: Major banks are uncertain whether to invest in California’s new carbon market, which experts believe could grow into a $40 billion a year market by 2020. (Reuters)

UK: New head of independent climate change committee says economic growth depends on investment on ‘green’ sector. Conservative peer Lord Deben – a former environment minister – said: “Soon we are going to be 9 billion people. Our resources are going to be constrained.” (Guardian)

UK: Leading climate change expert calls for a massive increase in low-carbon technology to avert global warming. Cambridge University’s Peter Wadhams says geo-engineering and thorium-fuelled reactors should be considered. (Guardian)

Nevada: Drought and rising temperatures in the USA are putting pressure on the nation’s hydroelectric and nuclear plant, which both require huge amounts of increasingly scarce water. Electricity production accounts for 40% of the USA’s water usage. (Washington Post)

Brazil: Amazon deforestation could hit country’s hydro plants as levels of rain start to fall. The study finds that air passing over extensive forests in the Earth’s tropical regions produces at least twice as much rain as air passing over little vegetation. (RTCC)

UK: RSPB, Friends of the Earth and WWF have written to the British government calling for it not to push ahead with shale gas extraction until the potential impacts are properly understood. Responding to claims that shale gas is a low carbon source of energy, the NGOs say: “Evidence suggests that the overall climate impact of shale is greater than conventional gas and could be as high as that of coal” (WWF)

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