Real life thread

B.I.B.

Captain
We get cold about once a year. It usually goes down to about higher 20’s deg F. It stays that low for about a day or two, then goes back up to 40’s. It’s unheard of that it went down to single digit on sunday night and Monday morning. And it stayed below freezing for the entire week. And ERCOT, our private company managing the energy needs in Texas, screwed up badly. But the main responsibility is that of the state itself. Although ERCOT does the leg work, all the policies and strategies are still made by the state. This includes all the decisions about energy needs in the state. The state government is the boss and ERCOT is simply the office manager doing the leg work. Now they want to throw the company under the bus.
I watched 'The day after Tomorrow" last night just to remind me on how bad it can get. It was a balmy 68F last night, and Im feeling for you fellas.
 

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
The real cause of Texas blackout. I guess they didn't winterize the natural gas power plant and 40% of TExas power generating station are gas fired It just simple cost cutting measure They go on cheap basically. My Neighbor is just returning resident from Taiwan The young kid and his grandfather does not had a clue about winter in Texas the pipe burst and make a mess of the bedroom I have to help them drain it with Wet vacuum cleaner and rug shampooer then use big box fan to dry it fortunately I am well equipped. It is a lot mess. We still not out of the wood yet. A lot of hardship story but also of generosity This Food truck owner she give free meat sandwich to her fellow Mexican American and she cry because a lot of kid get hungry and cold. A lot bickering now and finger pointing but it is total failure when people line up to get water Now the water is contaminated it has to be boiled because the water treatment plant is not working. A classic third world scene
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For as long as electricity has existed in Texas, the state, which prides itself on its independence has relied on itself for power. Officials in the state have long had a
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will to stay out of the hands of federal regulators.

While Magness, Ercot’s CEO, said that the shutdown was due primarily to “reasons that have to do with the weather”, critics have said Texas’s energy market incentivizes cheap prices at the cost of delaying maintenance and improving power plants. In 2011, the state experienced similar blackouts, though for a shorter period of time compared with what has been seen this week.

Following those blackouts, the Ferc gave a series of recommendations to Ercot to prevent future blackouts, including increasing reserve levels and weatherizing facilities to protect them from cold weather.

Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston,
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the Washington Post that Ercot “limped along on underinvestment and neglect until it finally broke under predictable circumstances”.

Did renewable energy play a role in the grid’s malfunction?


While Republicans have been
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frozen wind turbines for the state’s blackouts, officials and experts say that malfunctions in natural gas operations played the largest role in the power crisis.

Ercot said all of its sources of power, including those from renewable sources, were affected by the freezing temperatures. The state largely relies on natural gas for its power supply, though some comes from wind turbines and less from coal and nuclear sources.

Natural gas can handle the state’s high temperatures in the summer, but extreme cold weather makes it difficult for the gas to flow to power plants and heat homes. Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas Austin, told the
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that “gas is failing in the most spectacular fashion right now”.

With the climate crisis likely to trigger more freak weather events like the one Texas is suffering it is noteworthy that there are places that experience frigidly cold weather that rely heavily on wind turbines and manage to have electricity in the winter. In Iowa, a state which sees freezing temperatures more often than Texas, nearly 40% of electricity is
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by wind turbines.
 

vesicles

Colonel
I heard on the news that the electricity has gone up to $9 per kwh. That means $450 a day. If you don’t have locked rates with your electric company, you are in big trouble. I called my electric company yesterday to confirm that my rates are indeed locked. I also got a gas bill of $200,000 yesterday. I almost had a heart attack. It turned out to be an email error... Today is supposed to be the last day of this winter storm. Hope this mess goes away soon... And we go back to 60’s and 70’s. I miss the hot and humid Texas now... Then again, we will have the hurricanes to worry about... We have been well prepared for that though...
 

Gatekeeper

Brigadier
Registered Member
I heard on the news that the electricity has gone up to $9 per kwh. That means $450 a day. If you don’t have locked rates with your electric company, you are in big trouble. I called my electric company yesterday to confirm that my rates are indeed locked. I also got a gas bill of $200,000 yesterday. I almost had a heart attack. It turned out to be an email error... Today is supposed to be the last day of this winter storm. Hope this mess goes away soon... And we go back to 60’s and 70’s. I miss the hot and humid Texas now... Then again, we will have the hurricanes to worry about... We have been well prepared for that though...

Stay safe

Just saw this and thought it brought into perspective what you guys are going through.

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nlalyst

Junior Member
Registered Member
I am 50 hours without light and heat and the temperature is 20 deg F. I survive because I made plenty of food before the light went off and well equipped with eskimo style sleeping bag that keep the body war during night and day It was a hell of an experience that I never experience before . This is the danger relying too much on private power company because they don't plan for emergency. They don't have spare capacity since capital investment is sin work for the crowd of MBA who practice lean and mean management. I once live in cold climate country where the winter is sever but never experience brown out once because power company owned by the state and they have ample extra power capacity that will kick in in emergency.
The evidence I saw points to a state failure, rather than a private sector failure. The private sector will gladly winterize all power generation equipment if the customers/state are willing to shoulder the price.

Based on what I read, households that insulated their homes and installed rooftop solar coupled with energy storage were largely immune to blackouts and freezing cold. Insulation is equally useful in hot weather as it is in cold weather, so there is no argument to skimp on it. Yet too many households do and will continue to do so until the state intervenes.
 
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Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
The evidence I saw points to a state failure, rather than a private sector failure. The private sector will gladly winterize all power generation equipment if the customers/state are willing to shoulder the price.

Based on what I read, households that insulated their homes and installed rooftop solar coupled with energy storage were largely immune to blackouts and freezing cold. Insulation is equally useful in hot weather as it is in cold weather, so there is no argument to skimp on it. Yet too many households do and will continue to do so until the state intervenes.
Why should the customer bear the brunt of providing electricity It should be the responsibility of electric provider to have extra capacity and they should be mandated by law for the right to sell electricity in the state as simple as that.

That is an outright excuse to gouge the customer base and to deflect the need to provide spare capacity. I work long enough in power industry to know that almost all electric provider have base capacity(natural gas, oil, nuclear GS) and there are peaker(Gas Turbine GS) that is there to provide extra capacity in emergency only. But the state, ERCOT are in cahoots with private electric provider and they don't mandated the extra power without charging extra to client base. As simple as that.

Solar energy is not cost effective for average home owner with average usage of 1000 wats. It never pay for itself and it is vulnerable to hail and storm damage. And typical composite roof that need replacement every decade or so It just nightmare to do it with solar panel. Insulation does not help when the temperature below zero you must be kidding yourself.

My neighbor bedroom is now dry up and he got Chinese plumber to fix the leaky pipe good for him. I am glad I can help him because he just a kid born in California but went back to Taiwan and now returning to state with his grandfather to keep him company and clueless what to do . My wife help them yesterday
 
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vesicles

Colonel
The evidence I saw points to a state failure, rather than a private sector failure. The private sector will gladly winterize all power generation equipment if the customers/state are willing to shoulder the price.

Based on what I read, households that insulated their homes and installed rooftop solar coupled with energy storage were largely immune to blackouts and freezing cold. Insulation is equally useful in hot weather as it is in cold weather, so there is no argument to skimp on it. Yet too many households do and will continue to do so until the state intervenes.
Older houses have less adequate insulation. One is the age and the other is the building code decades ago was not good enough anymore. My previous house built in the early 2000’s still has all the outside pipes exposed. We had to cover them with cloth and stuff when it got cold. Our current house built in 2018 has all the outside pipes well insulated with proper materials.
 

Gatekeeper

Brigadier
Registered Member
Franky, what kind of asshat blames his 10 and 12 year old daughters!

The same kind of asshxxe that won't defend his wife's honour when she was insulted. On top of that. Now he insult her by implying she is not capable to go off to Mexico with her two daughters for a few days in the sun!

The kind who sucks up to Trump after the latter publicly humiliated his wife.

Yep. I know it's a few months old. But it is still so topical

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