solarz
Brigadier
LOL, I bet you're just used that dry prairie air.
Real life thread
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LOL, I bet you're just used that dry prairie air.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Oakville is close to the lake But Toronto proper is very humid in summer time the further it is from the lake Even Toronto island is pretty humid in summer time. Worst is freezing rain after heavy snow storm I remember one night I drove while freezing rain can see the road further than 10 feet because the heater does not melt the ice build up on the windshield so get off and wipe it out drive another mile do the same thing. I was young then no problem can't stand it today. But her the building code is so screw up they put all the utility(furnace, water heater, AC) on attic to save cost of ducting and the water pipe all has to be routed on the roof and the don't insulated the pipe. When the pipe burst you got disaster on hand like this 2nd video show. Other state has strict building code forcing the builder to built utility in garage. I know that that is why I buy house with utility in garage and not in attic. Specially the newly build home look impressive but the utility is in the attic and no PVC pipe but plastic hose maybe better because it give when water turn iceLOL, what are you talking about man. Toronto humidity is pretty low.
I still remember starting to sweat profusely the moment I got off the plane in Shanghai Pudong airport, at a balmy 22C. Yup, after decades in Canada, I'm just not used to Shanghai humidity anymore.
I live in Oakville, which is just a tad warmer than Toronto, and I have to say it's pretty good. Canadian summers are the best since it never gets super hot (i.e. 38+C). In the winter, Oakville gets a couple of days below -15C and maybe two or three big snow storms. This year we haven't had any snow storm until last week, and the hardest shoveling I've had to do this winter was a couple of days ago.
Of course, I've had it easy since I don't need to leave home for work or shopping.
Anyway dramatic footage from blizzard in Texas
Now water problem
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PiSigma
"the engineer"
Definitely. I used to visit Toronto as much as Houston for work. And I hate both city's weather just as much.
I had a training session in Houston one time I think was September. I volunteered to get some beer after and one guy who is local said the liquor store was 5 minutes away, so I walked.... It was 35 minutes walking, 5 minutes drive. Lol I basically lost 3 lbs from sweat that day. I went with a guy from Nigeria, and he was like no big deal lol.
I think the responsibility largely falls on the Public Utility Commission and the state Legislature. The state turned the electric grid into a competitive market, but then by legislature removed all financial incentives for electric power generators to winterize their equipment. Under current regulations, the power generators who would decide to build and maintain a power plant that may not be used except for the peak power usage periods (which were always in summer time) are denied by law the right to bill the consumer for the cost of maintaining this plant ready. Essentially, the state would like to have its cake and it eat it too.
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
No that is not true every where I know the power company built this peaker plant and let it idle without charging extra I was personally involved in building Gas Turbine peaker for Calpine in Santa Clara county and I didn't heard anything about them charging the state of California for maintaining the plant . It is part and parcel of having the right to sell electricity in the state! As I said Texas is republican party state and they are chummy with the owner of power utility because of donation etc. There is so much corruption in Texas!
That was my point, exactly. The state was unwilling to make the investment and passed the buck to the private companies. At the same time the state created financial disincentives for the companies to invest in peaker plants and winterization. In fact, buy setting up the rules of the game as they are, the state rewards them for under-investing as they can reap dividends from higher prices during peak demand. At least that's what I gathered as an outsider.
And then there is the fact of woefully inadequate natural gas storage capacity in the state which couldn't make up the shortfall in gas due to frozen up wells, which lead to under-utilization of non-peaker plants.
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LOL, what are you talking about man. Toronto humidity is pretty low.
I still remember starting to sweat profusely the moment I got off the plane in Shanghai Pudong airport, at a balmy 22C. Yup, after decades in Canada, I'm just not used to Shanghai humidity anymore.
I live in Oakville, which is just a tad warmer than Toronto, and I have to say it's pretty good. Canadian summers are the best since it never gets super hot (i.e. 38+C). In the winter, Oakville gets a couple of days below -15C and maybe two or three big snow storms. This year we haven't had any snow storm until last week, and the hardest shoveling I've had to do this winter was a couple of days ago.
Of course, I've had it easy since I don't need to leave home for work or shopping.
You guys don't know what humidity is unless you have lived in Hong Kong!
The responsibility lies with the state who controls, legislate and regulate a power system that's essentially a monopolistic industry but set out to privatise profit and nationalist losses.
But then again, it's the Texans fault (@hendrik never took you to be a Texan) for voting in the likes of Ted Cruz. Never a truer words said. "We get the politicians we deserved"
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
Yup look at this shoddy construction industry they didn't insulate the pipe and they will burst during freezing This black lady just exasperated ironically from CGTN I bet they must be mad CGTn showing this footage
See what thousands of people are dealing with after frigid temperatures in the usually-warm state of Texas have caused thousands of pipes to freeze and burst.
water, water, everywhere in the wrong place
Line up for clean water like third world country
See what thousands of people are dealing with after frigid temperatures in the usually-warm state of Texas have caused thousands of pipes to freeze and burst.
water, water, everywhere in the wrong place
Line up for clean water like third world country
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Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
The anatomy of power failure in deep south just as I guess the reason is deregulation, weak regulator, no mandated power reserve, power company and gas utility cutting corner by not winterizing
California, one of the early deregulators in the 1990s, scaled back its initial foray after market manipulation led to skyrocketing prices and rolling blackouts.
States like Maryland allow customers to pick from a menu of producers. In some states, competing private companies offer varied packages like discounts for cheaper power at night. But no state has gone as far as Texas, which has not only turned over the keys to the free market but has also isolated itself from the national grid, limiting the state’s ability to import power when its own generators are foundering.
Consumers themselves got a direct shock last week when customers who had chosen variable-rate electricity contracts found themselves with power bills of $5,000 or more. While they were expecting extra-low monthly rates, many may now face huge bills as a result of the upswing in wholesale electricity prices during the cold wave. Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday said the state’s Public Utility Commission has issued a moratorium on customer disconnections for nonpayment and will temporarily restrict providers from issuing invoices.
There is regulation in the Texas system, but it is hardly robust. One nonprofit agency, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, was formed to manage the wholesale market. It is supervised by the Public Utility Commission, which also oversees the transmission companies that offer customers an exhaustive array of contract choices laced with more fine print than a credit card agreement.
But both agencies are nearly unaccountable and toothless compared to regulators in other regions, where many utilities have stronger consumer protections and submit an annual planning report to ensure adequate electricity supply. Texas energy companies are given wide latitude in their planning for catastrophic events.
Into a Snowstorm With No Reserves
One example of how Texas has gone it alone is its refusal to enforce a “reserve margin” of extra power available above expected demand, unlike all other power systems around North America. With no mandate, there is little incentive to invest in precautions for events, such as a Southern snowstorm, that are rare. Any company that took such precautions would put itself at a competitive disadvantage.
A surplus supply of natural gas, the dominant power fuel in Texas, near power plants might have helped avoid the cascade of failures in which power went off, forcing natural gas production and transmission offline, which in turn led to further power shortages.
In the aftermath of the dayslong outages, ERCOT has been criticized by both Democratic and Republican residents, lawmakers and business executives, a rare display of unity in a fiercely partisan and Republican-dominated state. Abbott said he supported calls for the agency’s leadership to resign and made ERCOT reform a priority for the Legislature. The reckoning has been swift — this week, lawmakers will hold hearings in Austin to investigate the agency’s handling of the storm and the rolling outages.
For ERCOT operators, the storm’s arrival was swift and fierce, but they had anticipated it and knew it would strain their system. They asked power customers across the state to conserve, warning that outages were likely.
California, one of the early deregulators in the 1990s, scaled back its initial foray after market manipulation led to skyrocketing prices and rolling blackouts.
States like Maryland allow customers to pick from a menu of producers. In some states, competing private companies offer varied packages like discounts for cheaper power at night. But no state has gone as far as Texas, which has not only turned over the keys to the free market but has also isolated itself from the national grid, limiting the state’s ability to import power when its own generators are foundering.
Consumers themselves got a direct shock last week when customers who had chosen variable-rate electricity contracts found themselves with power bills of $5,000 or more. While they were expecting extra-low monthly rates, many may now face huge bills as a result of the upswing in wholesale electricity prices during the cold wave. Gov. Greg Abbott on Sunday said the state’s Public Utility Commission has issued a moratorium on customer disconnections for nonpayment and will temporarily restrict providers from issuing invoices.
There is regulation in the Texas system, but it is hardly robust. One nonprofit agency, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, was formed to manage the wholesale market. It is supervised by the Public Utility Commission, which also oversees the transmission companies that offer customers an exhaustive array of contract choices laced with more fine print than a credit card agreement.
But both agencies are nearly unaccountable and toothless compared to regulators in other regions, where many utilities have stronger consumer protections and submit an annual planning report to ensure adequate electricity supply. Texas energy companies are given wide latitude in their planning for catastrophic events.
Into a Snowstorm With No Reserves
One example of how Texas has gone it alone is its refusal to enforce a “reserve margin” of extra power available above expected demand, unlike all other power systems around North America. With no mandate, there is little incentive to invest in precautions for events, such as a Southern snowstorm, that are rare. Any company that took such precautions would put itself at a competitive disadvantage.
A surplus supply of natural gas, the dominant power fuel in Texas, near power plants might have helped avoid the cascade of failures in which power went off, forcing natural gas production and transmission offline, which in turn led to further power shortages.
In the aftermath of the dayslong outages, ERCOT has been criticized by both Democratic and Republican residents, lawmakers and business executives, a rare display of unity in a fiercely partisan and Republican-dominated state. Abbott said he supported calls for the agency’s leadership to resign and made ERCOT reform a priority for the Legislature. The reckoning has been swift — this week, lawmakers will hold hearings in Austin to investigate the agency’s handling of the storm and the rolling outages.
For ERCOT operators, the storm’s arrival was swift and fierce, but they had anticipated it and knew it would strain their system. They asked power customers across the state to conserve, warning that outages were likely.